Lion review: Emotional experience enriched by commendable performances

First-time director Garth Davis embarked on his first feature film by adapting Saroo Brierley's book 'A Long Way Home' based on his incredible true story. You may already know this is going to end in a group hug and lots of smiles all around, but it's the emotional journey of the protagonist etched by Davis and screenwriter Luke Davies that still makes Lion a worthy watch.

The two take on a whispy plot and pad it up by beautifully tapping into complex emotions of its primary characters, depicted brilliantly by a terrific cast.

Five-year-old Saroo (Sunny Pawar), who comes from a poor family in a village in central India, often accompanies his brother Guddu (Abhishek Bharate) to hussle for food and supplement the meagre earnings of their labourer mother (Priyanka Bose). On one such night when the two brothers head out to scavenge, Saroo, separated from his brother, ends up boarding an out-of-service train which takes him miles away from home. 

Saroo's turmoil as he screams for his brother at first and later resigns to his fate is brilliantly portrayed by a naturally-gifted child actor, Pawar.

As a lost Saroo arrives in the big city of Kolkata, where he doesn't even speak Bengali, many challenges lie ahead of him. Watching what could happen to lost boys like him is heartbreaking, but his survival is a fairy tale of sorts, except it is a true story. And that fills you with hope as you navigate through the rest of the film. The young boy's turmoil and his adventures are engaging and touching as Pawar pulls off a compelling performance.

Saroo is a survivor. His life is indeed a fairy tale as, while many children like him end up leading a life of misery, Saroo gets a second chance when a Tasmanian family adopts him.

One of the most moving scenes is when Saroo first arrives in Tasmania to his new parents, Sue and John Brierly. His innocence and the organic away in which he connects with his new mother, Sue (Nicole Kidman) is touching. Kidman puts up a commendable performance too, especially in the monologue where she explains to Saroo why she chose to adopt him. There are many such tear-jerking moments through the film.

The second half deals with a grown-up Saroo, played by Dev Patel, 20 years later. Patel puts a lot of heart into the portrayal of a young man haunted by the memory of his biological family, affecting his relationship with his girlfriend Lucy (Rooney Mara) and his mother. He is also driven to find his biological family with the use of the then-new technology, Google Earth. His heart wouldn't be at peace knowing that his mother and brother may be out there looking for him.

The flashbacks of Saroo's old life, which appear as fragmented, stray moments, are shot beautifully by cinematographer Greig Fraser. They are a major tool showing how Saroo needs to come to terms with the duality of his life. A lot of his adult life is spent oscillating between his adoptive mother, who loves him unconditionally, and his birth mother, who may be grieving for him. 

My only peeve is the lack of scenes depicting the adolescence of Saroo as it is a crucial time in one's life. The shift to an adult Saroo is sudden. Neither do we get to witness the growing closeness to his adoptive mother nor do we get to experience his yearning for the birth mother before he discovers Google Earth.  

But that's really a small complaint in a film that ably deals with the universal human emotions of love, belonging, separation, renunion, and the search for one's identity. At its core its the story of a survivor, a hero who beat all odds to win at love and life.

With minimal dialogues, screenwriter Luke Davies conveys a lot. The main reason why this film succeeds in moving you is because Davies and Davis make you look inward and draw you into the brilliant performances of each of the cast members. Heartbreaking and hopeful at the same time, Lion is a memorable, emotional journey.

- Review by Suparna Thombare