2016 | PG-13 | 1h 58m | Biography, Drama
“Lion,” which made its U.S. debut in 2017, is a deeply moving film about the trials and tribulations of a young Indian boy who gets lost, and the various challenges he faces later as he searches for his original family.
That boy is Saroo (played by Sunny Pawar as a child and Dev Patel as an adult), a spunky 5-year-old who lives in the administrative city of Khandwa, located in Western India. Although his small family is destitute, they are tight-knit and love each other dearly.
One day, Saroo’s older brother Guddu (Abhishek Bharate) takes the young lad along on a coal theft foray. The two brothers manage to make a decent haul; later, at a local market, Guddu and Saroo trade their ill-gotten gains for some food and a couple of packets of milk. They immediately rush home to feed not only themselves but also their kind mother Kamla (Priyanka Bose) and young sister Shekila (played by Khushi Solanki and, later, Rohini Kargaiya).
Soon, Guddu decides to go on a week-long trip so that he can work as a bale lifter. Although Saroo wants to accompany his older brother, he is too little to perform the backbreaking labor, so Guddu tells him to stay home. However, Saroo nags him until he gives in, and they both depart on Guddu’s rusty old bike the next morning, while Kamla is at work.
At a train station, Saroo begins to get sleepy and Guddu decides to leave the youngster on a train station bench so that he can go and check on some work prospects. Saroo awakens later to find that he is all alone on the station platform. Alarmed that his brother hasn’t returned, Saroo boards a nearby train to look for him. He falls asleep on the train and wakes up later to discover that the train has departed the station, and he is forced to go along for a long ride.
Evil of Child Trafficking
Saroo then wanders the station until he encounters some street kids who have gathered together. In a horrific scene, a group of men swiftly descend upon the kids, snatching them up and carrying them off as the youngsters scream in fear.Saroo barely escapes the human traffickers and soon meets a mysterious woman named Noor (Tannishtha Chatterjee), while walking down a desolate stretch of train tracks. Noor offers Saroo some food and tells him that she’ll help him get home—but first, he’ll have to come to her apartment.
It’s not kindness but something far more nefarious when Rama (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) arrives and inspects Saroo, as if evaluating livestock. It soon becomes apparent that Rama intends to sell Saroo to some dastardly third parties, telling Noor: “He’s exactly what they’re looking for.”
Saroo escapes from Noor’s apartment and is eventually put into an orphanage, after local authorities fail to locate and identify the lost boy’s family. When Saroo is advertised in the local newspapers, a couple from Australia, consisting of husband John Brierley (David Wenham) and his wife Sue (Nicole Kidman), adopt him.
Finding Home
However, Saroo begins to remember fragmented memories of his pre-adoption childhood. Eventually, the memories overwhelm him and he makes it his mission to find his genetic family.Sunny Pawar’s performance as a lost child brilliantly conveys emotions ranging from bleak despair to joyful optimism, utilizing both his facial expressions and body language with the utmost skill. His diminutive stature, paired with cinematographer Greig Fraser’s long shots of the various Indian environs surrounding him during his earlier journeys, makes him seem like an utterly tiny speck lost within many of the big, loud backdrops of India. Sunny racked up a slew of international acting awards and nominations, and his performance deserves the acclaim.
Dev Patel is also outstanding as the older version of Saroo, successfully turning in an equally nuanced performance as an enterprising young man who is haunted by his familial past. Director Garth Davis gives Mr. Patel plenty of room to develop his character’s plight, and his sometimes sullen eyes are just as emotionally touching as his bright and buoyant smile.
“Lion” is an uplifting real-life story about a young man’s search for his identity. It features gorgeous cinematography, touching performances, and an emotionally satisfying (and most likely tearful) climax that never feels manipulative, nor overwrought.
