finding roots on google earth

Rating: 7/10 (12 January 2017)

Greetings again from the darkness. Sometimes the real life story is enough. The story of Saroo Brierley is proof. A 5 year old boy from rural India gets stranded at a train station and inadvertently takes a train trip that strands him in Calcutta, thousands of miles from home. He is adopted by a Tasmanian couple and later uses Google Earth to systematically track down his village, family, and ultimately his self.
Saroo's story would be interesting enough had a writer fabricated it; but in fact, Luke Davis adapted the screenplay directly from Mr. Brierley's book "A Long Way Home". Director Garth Davis and an exceptional cast bring this incredible and inspirational and touching story to the big screen in a wonderfully entertaining manner.
The first part of the film introduces us to 5 year old Saroo (a bright-eyed and energetic Sunny Pawar) and his beloved and protective older brother Guddu (Abhishek Bharate). The two boys are nearly inseparable and seem oblivious to the hard life provided by the small village they live in - where their mother literally carries rocks all day. A fluke of circumstance causes the train station separation for the brothers, and young Saroo finds himself on a train ride that will forever change his life.
Very little dialogue is found in this first part, but we immediately connect with the young boy, and we feel his frantic desire to return home as a tightness in our chest as he falls into the quagmire of homeless kids in Calcutta. When Saroo first meets Sue and John Brierley (Nicole Kidman, David Wenham), he isn't sure how to react. His assimilation into this unrecognizable new world might just as well have been on another planet as a home in Tasmania.
Once the film jumps ahead, Dev Patel takes over as Saroo and the film turns into a journey for the universal need to understand our identity  where we come from, and who we really are. Rooney Mara has a small but important role as Saroo's girlfriend Lucy (a composite character), as does Divian Ladwa as Mantosh, another boy adopted by the Brierleys. It's here where Google Earth enjoys its biggest plug as the tool Saroo utilizes to solve the mystery of his origin.
The film is beautifully shot by cinematographer Greig Fraser, and he perfectly captures the harshness of young Saroo's home village, the frenzied pace of Calcutta and the beauty of Tasmania  all without losing the emotions of any given moment. To cap it off and to prove the filmmakers never stooped to any 'trickery', the film ends with actual footage of Saroo reuniting with his mother, and then the magical moment when his two mothers embrace. Good luck maintaining composure during this part!