Movies

Lion – review by HungryOwl

On March 13, 2017 by

The movie is really a tale in two halves.

The first half of the movie is set in India and follows the journey of Saroo from living at home with his Mother, Brother and Sister to being lost in Calcutta and finally being adopted by the Australian family. The young Saroo is played excellently by Sunny Pawar – who is so cute you just want to gather him into your arms and rescue him. There are times when the story is truly moving and plenty of times when you want to laugh.

India is shown to be a busy confusion of adults to this tiny child who is lost and bewildered. It also demonstrates the vast differences in one country of population numbers, living conditions and languages.

The second half of the movie jumps forward 20 years to Saroo being a grown man, played by Dev Patel. Who after going away to Melbourne to college starts a quest to find his home in India. He has little to go just the name of his village and memory of train station with a water tower. It turns out he has not remembered the name of the village correctly; thus making the quest nearly impossible. Dev Patel is a brilliant actor, funny, quirky, tormented and at times sexy.

It’s a beautifully filmed and well acted film. It pulls on you emotions – but never too much to make you feel depressed, because there is always a smile around the corner.

I took a whole packet of tissues and only used one at the end.

I am really glad that I decided to watch this movie – it is one of those stories that helps you believe that there is good people in this world.

Reviewed by HungryOwl