Lion
Film
Review by Kam Williams
Curious Adoptee
Tracks Down Birth-Mom in Bittersweet Biopic
Saroo
(Dev Patel) had the misfortune of being born into poverty in India's
Khandwa district. He lived there with his single-mom, Kamla (Priyanka
Bose), along with his big brother, Guddu (Abhishek Bharate), and
younger sister, Shekila (Khushi Solanki).
His
illiterate mother was reduced to carrying rocks for a living, and she
could barely afford to keep a roof over their heads. So, when Guddu
found a night job hauling bales of hay, Saroo leapt at the chance to
contribute, too, even though he was obviously a little small.
And
he promptly fell asleep after the long ride to the worksite sitting
on his brother's bike's handlebars. "It's my fault," Guddu
lamented, before leaving Saroo alone to spend the night on a train
station bench.
Trouble
is, when Guddu failed to return by daybreak, the frantic 5 year-old
inadvertently stowed away aboard a freight train headed to Bengal, a
port-of-call 1,600 miles east. Upon arriving, Saroo couldn't get any
help from strangers, between his not speaking the language and his
mispronouncing the name of his hometown, "Ganestalay."
Consequently,
he ended up struggling
to survive on
the streets until he landed in a local orphanage. Since Saroo didn't
know his own last name or where he was from, he was ultimately
shipped off to Melbourne to meet Sue (Nicole
Kidman) and John Brierley (David Wenham), an Australian couple eager
to adopt him.
For
the next quarter-century, he enjoyed an idyllic life, whether playing
cricket, swimming in a cove off the ocean, or dating Lucy (Rooney
Mara), a lovely Aussie lassie. All was well until the fateful evening
a childhood memory was triggered during a dinner of Indian food.
Suddenly
curious about his roots, Saroo was subsequently encouraged by Lucy to
use Google Earth to find the spot on the planet that he hailed from.
Once he recognized a few familiar places from his formative years,
all that was left to do was to hop back on a plane and reunite with
his long-lost family.
Adapted
from Saroo Brierley's autobiography, "A Long Way Home,"
Lion is a heartbreaking biopic that definitely packs an emotional
punch, thanks to powerful performances by Sunny Pawar and Dev Patel
as the young and adult Saroo, respectively. The supporting cast
features equally-evocative turns by Rooney Mara and Nicole Kidman as
the women who played pivotal roles in the protagonist's life Down
Under.
A
bittersweet variation on the "I was lost, but now I'm found"
theme of the parable of the Prodigal Son.
Excellent
(4 stars)
Rated PG-13
for mature themes and some sensuality
In English, Hindi and
Bengali with subtitles
Running time: 118
minutes
Distributor: The
Weinstein Company
To
see a trailer for Lion, visit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RNI9o06vqo
No comments:
Post a Comment