Official
Australian release date: 19/1/17. Viewed: 24/1/17.
Director:
Garth Davis
Actors:
Dev Patel, Sunny Pawar, Nicole Kidman, Rooney Mara
Genre: Drama
Rating:
PG
‘Lion’ (the reason behind the title is
revealed at the end) is an amazing journey – and a true story too! Simple
premise – Saroo (Pawar – one cute kid!) helps his brother, Guddu (Bharate), little
sister Shekila (Solanki) and mother (Bose) to survive in the Indian
poverty, when one day his brother accidentally loses him on a train station. Being
only five, after travelling for two days, Saroo can’t pronounce his home town
correctly, so he ends up in a juvenile prison, along with thousands of other
lost kids. The time spent (45min) with young Saroo builds his character and
back story nicely, and displays the vibrant and bustling India.
Saroo is adopted by Sue (Kidman) & John
(Wenham – needed a bit more to do) and given a great life in Hobart. They also
adopt Mantosh (Ladwa) – Saroo (now Patel) grows up well-adjusted, Mantosh not
so much. Saroo meets Lucy (Mara) at university in Melbourne and they fall in
love. He then finally decides to search for his mother, brother and sister,
which is a tough ask across the billion-plus people in India and the fact he
doesn’t know what region he’s from.
The pacing is good – doesn’t feel like a
two-hour film – and I would rate this on the same level as ‘Slumdog Millionaire’:
they both have some similarities, but quite a few differences, with Patel’s charisma
shining through and helping him to carry the film. The support cast is good,
but he has to display the most emotion and the ending in India is beautiful. Decent
score, great Indian and Tasmanian settings and a great story.
Overall: Excellent tale of hope and
determination.
Gav's Rating: 4 stars.
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