Review – Lion

Lion is one of the most emotional movies of 2016.  It is a movie that continuously hits you in the feels, yet not overdoing it to make it melodramatic.

Lion is the incredible true story of Saroo (Sunny Pawar), a five year old boy who gets lost on the streets of Calcutta, thousands of kilometers from home.  He survives the tough streets and ends up being adopted by an Australian family (Nicole Kidman, David Wenham) and is raised by them.  25 years later, Saroo (Dev Patel) sets out on a search to find his mother and brother.

One of my favorites parts of Lion is the conventional way it tells its story, which is weird for me to say, since I enjoy unique ways of storytelling, rather than the typical beginning, middle, and end.  Usually in movies like this, at least the ones I have seen in the past, the film would have started out with present day Saroo and show his current life and search for his family, while using flashbacks to show how he lost his family and his upbringing until he was adopted.  But, Lion shows this story in the most conventional way possible.  It takes us through Saroo’s childhood, him getting lost, surviving the streets, getting adopted, and then shows him as an adult, living his life and searching for his parents.  What this allows is consistent emotion through out the entire film.  If the movie were to jump back and forth between present and past, there would have been the potential of a break in the emotion.  It could have jumped from an incredibly moving scene, which there are a number of those, to a transitional scene with little to no emotion.

My absolute favorite aspect of the movie was Dev Patel as adult Saroo.  Patel got his big break in the Oscar winning Slumdog Millionaire back in 2008 and has since been doing solid work as a supporting actor, most notably in the Aaron Sorkin political drama, The Newsroom (2012).  This is the first film he’s been front and center and it is his most accomplished work yet.  The adult Saroo is conflicted with wanting to find his real parents, yet doesn’t want to disrespect his adopted parents for everything that they have done for him.  He becomes obsessed with finding his real parents, alienating everyone around, including his parents and girlfriend.  Patel brings all the emotion of the second half of the film, and really carries this movie.  We understand everything he is feeling and we want him to find his family as much as he does.  It is a performance that could lead Patel to Oscar glory.

I also loved Sunny Pawar as child Saroo.  With limited dialog, Pawar conveys confusion, terror, innocence, and happiness and gives us a full idea of what is going on in this kid’s head.  It is one of the great child performances of the year.  Nicole Kidman is also heartbreaking as Saroo’s adopted mother.  Trying to keep her family together, yet also understand Saroo’s issues, Kidman keeps a cool head until she has a break down with Saroo that will crush your soul.  Kidman hasn’t had a role like this in a long time, and it’s good to see she still has the chops.

Lion is a great movie.  It’s an emotional, powerful true story that features great performances, particularly by Dev Patel.  This will hit you in all the feels and you will be a better person for seeing it.

MY RATING – 3.5/4

Did you see Lion?  What did you think?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter and Instagram, @kevflix, or on Facebook and YouTube by searching Kevflix.