The best stories are true stories

Rating: 9/10 (16 February 2017)

After hearing everything from, "don't watch this movie it's too depressing, it'll ruin your day" to "I cried all the way through it, what a great movie!" I was thoroughly confused about what to expect with this one. I hadn't seen a trailer and other than the few comments from friends I had nothing else to go on. Let's just say I'm glad I went to see it!
The film is a touching story of a lost boy, his adoption and his journey through the first half of his life. Played by child actor Sunny Pawar and Dev Patel this portrayal of a true story was impeccable. The direction, cinematography, locations, costumes and music were spot on. At times I felt like I was actually there, with little Saroo lost on the train tracks searching for home on a journey through India, in locations very similar to what I would call home too.
Like I said, I loved how real the story felt. Growing up in the 80's - the styles, furniture, hair, clothing and the "there's this new thing called Google Earth!" moment felt incredibly nostalgic and relatable. I could easily relate to little Saroo as I would have been roughly the same age and we spent a lot of time on local Indian transport in those days! As a child of immigrants, I could feel Saroo's confusion and the internal battle of growing up different in an alien world.
My only gripe with the movie was the poorly fleshed out love story section, but this is understandable given 1hr 58mins had to squeeze in a story spanning 25 or so years. The initiation of the Rooney Mara's character felt cheesy and more typical of an embarrassing low budget 80's Bollywood movie. Saroo actually gives Lucy "the look" - reminded me of Chunky LaFunga from Goodness Gracious Me!! I believe there were literally two scenes where one minute they were in bed and the next they were breaking up in the street with the cliché "you deserve better than me" line and then somehow they were semi-clothed and semi-friends and in bed again - huh? The timeline at this point felt confusing and immersion breaking and left me feeling jaded. It could easily have been left out as Lucy didn't have any real impact on Saroo's life, past the point of planting the seed to hunt for his parents. I think they should have portrayed her as just a concerned friend without the need to elevate her to girlfriend status and abandoned her character at the "friends chilling" scene.
The remaining cast were as spectacular as their peers. Nicole Kidman's portrayal of the adoptive mother was as powerful, realistic and as touching as Priyanka Bose's portrayal of Kamla and Divian Ladwa played the disturbed adoptive brother wonderfully!
This movie wasn't just the typical "boy on a journey to find his past" Hollywood-style B-movie that I'm so bored to death of watching and it had none of the pompous and over-exaggerations we're also so fed up of from Hollywood-style movies. This movie was an exploration of the challenges of adoption not only from the child's perspective but the adoptive parents' too.
Not only did they manage to explore Saroo's story but also touch beautifully on the difficulties some children experience with adoption. Here the story became gritty, the raw emotion and isolation was tangible as we know this is an experience shared by many adopted children. Other themes explored included estrangement from ones lands (which is apt considering it's an Australian movie) and the internal identity crisis of immigrants, whilst highlighting issues of Indian corruption, failure of government systems, the railway children, language barriers and interracial relationships.
Overall, this is a layered and deep movie, definitely one to watch multiple times. Finally, watch the movie if only to answer the question, "how did they get the title for this movie?"