Lion

Rating: 8/10 (29 January 2017)

When Awards Season comes around I always set myself a target to watch as many of the nominated and winning films as possible in the three big ceremonies, if not all of them, this film was no exception. Based on the true story, in 1986, five-year-old Indian boy Saroo (Sunny Pawar) lives in poverty in a secluded part of rural Central India with his mother Kamla Munshi (Priyanka Bose) and older brother Guddu (Abhishek Bharate). One day Saroo follows Guddu to work, they stop at a train station, Saroo stays and awaits for his brother's return, he wakes from a sleep to find his brother has not come back, Saroo calls for Guddu, before boarding an empty train, he rests and falls asleep. Saroo wakes on the train while it is moving, alone and locked in the carriage he is forced to wait, after several days the train stops in faraway Calcutta, 1500 miles away from his home, he only speaks Hindi, so does not understand the Bangali language. Saroo is forced to spend the night in the station with other stranded children, he continues to wander around the city, before friendly woman Noor (Tannishtha Chatterjee) brings him to her apartment, she tells him that Rama (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) can help him get home, but not trusting them Saroo runs away. Saroo is found by a man who takes him to the police, he says he is from a place called "Ganestalay", unable to trace his family they put him in an orphanage, three months later Mrs. Sood (Saroj Sood) tells him his photograph has been in the newspaper, but no-one has claimed him. An Australian couple want to adopt him, so Saloo is taught some English and taken to Australia to be cared for by Sue Brierley (Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominated Nicole Kidman) and her husband John (The Lord of the Rings' David Wenham), later they also adopt Mantosh (Keshav Jadhav), who has trouble adjusting. Twenty years later, Saroo (BAFTA winning, and Oscar and Golden Globe nominated Dev Patel) has moved to Melbourne to study hotel management and started a relationship with Lucy (Rooney Mara). One night, sharing an Indian meal with friends, Saroo starts to recall his childhood, he tells that he is adopted but has little memory of his hometown location, his friends suggest using Google Earth to search. Saroo begins to search, using the past memories he can recall, but he disconnects with Lucy, and is overwhelmed thinking of the emotions his family must have gone through when he went missing. Saroo visits Sue, whose health is deteriorating, she tells that she was never infertile, she and John decided to help others and thought there were too many people already in the world. Saroo continues his search on Google Earth with no success, then one night he extends his search further, from Calcutta he follows the track, eventually finding the station where he boarded the train, then he notices the rock formations where his mother worked, he finally finds where he lived, the town is called Khandwa, but the neighbourhood is Ganesh Talai ("Ganestalay"). Saroo finally tells adoptive mother Sue about his search, she is fully supportive of his efforts, he takes a flight to India to find and return to his former hometown, in the end he has a highly emotional reunion with his biological mother and sister, but is sad to learn that Guddu is dead. The real Saroo Brierley returned home in 2012, his brother Guddu was killed by a train the same night he disappeared, his mother never gave up hope that her missing son would return, his adoptive mother also came to meet his biological mother in India, and it is revealed that Saroo learned he had been mispronouncing his own name, which was actually Sheru, which in Hindi means "Lion". It is odd that Patel is nominated Supporting Actor when he is the lead star, perhaps because the child and he is not highly well-known in Hollywood, he does give a good performance, as does Kidman as his caring and nurturing adoptive mother, but it is young newcomer Pawar who shines as the poor child who is unintentionally separated from his family, he should have been nominated! The first half of the film is amazing, the boy from a remote village with no money and identification getting lost and trying to find way back, the second half does plod on a little with the grown up Indian nervous to return home, but it does show the good the internet can do, and the final reunion is tearjerking, all in all it is moving and thought-provoking stuff, I would highly recommend it, a brilliant drama. It was nominated the Oscars for Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score for Dustin O'Halloran and Volker Bertelmann, it won the BAFTA for Best Adapted Screenplay, and it was nominated for Best Cinematography and Original Music, and it was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Drama and Best Original Score. Very good!