Review of Lion (2016) by Gustavo B — 06 Feb 2017
When I first saw the trailer of LION is said to myself that this could be a very melodramatic and over the top film about a kid lost by mistake in the middle of the streets of India.
I was wrong. Director Garth Davis (directorial debut) presents a powerful story of Saroo Brierley (Dev Patel - Sunny Pawar Young Saroo) a 5 year old kid living with his mother, old brother and a sister. All of them living in poverty in the small town of Khandwa, in India.
Saroo always follow his brother Guddu, but one night he wanted to help him on some extra work. Saroo end up getting into a train droping him about 1600km from his small home town. He is now in the heart of Calcutta, lost, with no food and without his family. Saroo is taken to an orphanage, where a few months later, is adopted by an Australian couple Sue (Nichole Kidman) and John (David Wenham) Now he will live his life in Austrailia till the age of 25 years old. Now adult his memories haunt him about his mother and brothers, forcing him to search for them...
Garth Davis with just experience in short films and the TV show "Top of The Lake" masterfully capture the drama of 5 year old Saroo lost in the streets of india looking for his family. Visually you see how alone is he and how terrible is the experience for him. The camera travels with Saroo and capture his journey. The use of computer screens is perfectly balance, when Saroo is digging in the constant search of Google maps to find every trace of his journey when he got missing. Davis is great directing actors, from Sunny (young Saroo) to Dev Patel and Nichole Kidman, everyone deliver powerful performances. The cinematography, editing and original score are spot on.
The big message of the film is not only Saroo success in the search of his family, but the intention of filmmakers and producers to make the audience understand that this is a big problem in this day an age. Missing children's from his parents around the world end up in the wrong hands, from child labor to other terrible things.
This review of Lion (2016) was written by Gustavo B on 06 Feb 2017.
Lion has generally received very positive reviews.
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