Lion- Reviews and updates

Dev Patel plays a real-life figure separated from his family in central India at age five and reunited with them a quarter-century later in this uplifting drama that also stars Nicole Kidman and Rooney Mara.

A tremendously moving performance from Dev Patel is the resilient soul of Lion, the incredible true story of Saroo Brierley and his tenacious quest to find the family from whom he was separated 25 years earlier. But the role is made even more affecting by its through line from the equally indelible work of Sunny Pawar, the remarkable young actor who plays him at age five in the film's wrenching opening chapter. Garth Davis, who comes from a background in commercials and co-directed the lauded drama series Top of the Lake with Jane Campion, has chosen wisely for his first feature project.

Platforming in Los Angeles and New York on Nov. 25 before its national rollout, the Weinstein Co. release should find a very warm embrace from discerning audiences. It's that relatively rare breed " a classy crowdpleaser.

Comparisons no doubt will be made with the film that launched Patel's career, Slumdog Millionaire, and the early sections of this sprawling drama do in fact recall the Dickensian depiction of life for poor children in India in Danny Boyle's 2009 Oscar winner. But that movie was an exhilarating, high-energy fairy tale, while Lion is something quite different " a sober and yet profoundly stirring contemplation of family, roots, identity and home, which engrosses throughout the course of its two-hour running time.

Luke Davies' admirably measured screenplay, adapted from Brierley's memoir A Long Way Home, brings the innocent gaze of a child to its most harrowing episodes, and then later, the hard-won maturity of a young man who has struggled to know himself despite being grateful for the life he has been given. Onscreen text at the end of the movie reveals that 80,000 children go missing in India every year, and the knowledge that Saroo's experiences make him one of the luckier ones gives the conclusion enormous resonance.

Eschewing the overused convention of an adult framing device, the filmmakers begin in 1986, plunging us into the world of five-year-old Saroo. His mother (Priyanka Bose) works as a laborer, hauling rocks, while he and his adored older brother, Guddu (Abhishek Bharate), supplement the poor family's meager existence any way they can. The delightful Pawar, an absolute screen natural, makes Saroo a happy kid eager to prove his strength by doing anything his brother can do. But they get separated when they go off looking for work. The panicked Saroo climbs aboard a decommissioned train, falls asleep and wakes up to find it moving, taking him 1,600 kilometers away to Calcutta.

Both in India and later when the action shifts to the Australian island state of Tasmania, cinematographer Greig Frasier frames the magnificent landscapes in all their ruggedness and beauty. Aerial shooting throughout the movie is spectacular. But what's most striking in the story's establishing sections is the sense of Saroo as a tiny speck against a massive, unfamiliar world, teeming with people. His isolation is intensified by the communication challenge of speaking only Hindi in an area where Bengali is the common language.

Covering the months when Saroo manages to survive alone in Calcutta, scrounging for food and narrowly escaping child abductors before being taken to an orphanage, Davies' screenplay shows the extreme vulnerability of children and the cunning of those who prey on them by presenting themselves as rescuers. The script also is effective in suggesting how the boy was so confused and worn down by the selective information being fed him that he gave up on ever finding his mother. This is heartbreaking stuff, its impact deepened by the elegant symphonic score by Dustin O'Halloran and Hausckha.

The filmmakers' ability to put us inside the head of a five-year-old boy is uncanny also in the tender scenes of his arrival in 1987 in Australia, at the home of his warm adoptive parents Sue and John Brierley (Nicole Kidman, David Wenham, both superb). Just watching Saroo encounter such things as a television or a refrigerator for the first time is magical.

Skipping forward 20 years, Patel steps in as Saroo (nailing the Australian accent). He has been a source of great pride and happiness to the Brierleys, while their second adopted son, Mantosh (Divian Ladwa), was too traumatized by the experiences of his early life ever to adjust. The script's perceptive grasp of character, the director's sensitivity to the material and the very fine work of the actors make these family scenes quite poignant, with some beautiful moments from Kidman in particular, in a deglamorized role that makes expert use of her emotional transparency.

When Saroo goes off to Melbourne to study hotel management, he meets American transplant Lucy (Rooney Mara) and a romance develops. But no less significant is his meeting, through her, of some Indian friends who ask about his background and plant the idea of tracing his roots by using newly available Google Earth technology. That process involves painstaking research around the minimal concrete information he can remember, while narrowing down the possible radius and retracing in reverse the train journey that took him to Calcutta.

Patel does arguably his most nuanced and heartfelt screen work to date as Saroo wrestles with conflicting loyalties " to Sue, saddened by his sudden withdrawal and by her troubles with Mantosh; to Lucy, keen to support him but increasingly shut out; and to his birth mother and brother, memories of them filling his head after being archived away in remote recesses for years. There are elements here that recall any number of sentimental dramas about characters reconnecting with their past. But the restraint and authentic feeling Davis brings to the material underscores at all times that Saroo's amazing story is quite unique.

One could quibble about the protracted stop-start depiction of his search process, which seems designed merely to delay an outcome made obvious by the film's very existence. But there's no denying the swelling emotions of the final act, or remaining dry-eyed during the characters' joyous reunion.

It's been a rough few years for the Weinstein Company, both critically and commercially with Harvey Weinstein's intimate relationship with the Oscars turning into more of a casual association. The giddy years that saw vanilla mum films like Chocolat and The Cider House Rules score with Academy voters came to an end and recent attempts to sneak in (with Southpaw, Big Eyes and Mandela) have left the brothers empty-handed.

A lot rides on this year's crop and Lion is a film that's been talked up as a major contender. It's easy to see why with a strong cast, international themes and an emotional true story. From the outset, it's a film that's impossible not to find hugely involving. Two brothers, Saroo and Guddu, live in rural India and spend their days seeking out odd jobs to help their mother fund their home. But one day, the unimaginable happens as the brothers are separated and five-year-old Saroo finds himself on a train going cross country.

Arriving in Calcutta, unfamiliar with the language and unsure how to return home, he winds up in an orphanage that sees him adopted by a couple in Australia, played by Nicole Kidman and David Wenham. Saroo soon feels at home, comforted by the affection and calm after a harrowing experience, and grows up into a confident and ambitious 30-year-old, played by Dev Patel. As he combines a hotel management course and a burgeoning romance with a fellow classmate (a somewhat thankless role for Rooney Mara), he becomes haunted by the world he left behind. As he learns about the advent of Google Earth, he starts a difficult journey to find his family.

Thanks largely to an affecting performance from newcomer Sunny Pawar, the first act is horribly effective. The descent from the loving warmth of his family to the harshness of the streets has a nightmarish quality and we're pulled along with him, nervous for his safety and eager for levity. Because of the urgency and suspense of these initial scenes, there's an inevitable dip in pace as we skip forward to meet Saroo as a man. Patel, who is too often caught in broad roles, is given a chance to go deeper and, mostly, he succeeds as a man trapped between two worlds and two identities.

There are some nicely-observed scenes where we see him struggle with the privilege he now has, at odds with the poverty of his youth, and the conflict of cultures, unsure where he should be placed. But once his memories of back home are reawakened, the film flips into soul-searching mode and stays here for far too long. The drama of Saroo's search is also mainly limited to a computer screen and we're left with an unanswered question of whether he's spent time looking for his family in the years inbetween. The script, based on Saroo Brierley's book A Long Way Home, often struggles to expand what's ultimately a rather short story into a two hour movie, which often risks diluting the power of the initial scenes.

Thankfully the film remains visually arresting throughout, due to accomplished work from first-time director Garth Davis. He riffs on the Google Earth theme and manages some stunning aerial vistas showcasing the contrasts and similarities of Australia and India. He keeps us engaged, even then the script repeats the odd note, and ensures that we're eager for an emotionally satisfying conclusion. When it comes, it's not quite the tear-jerking finale we're expecting but, like the rest of the film, it's admirably played and, despite some over-emphatic music, somewhat restrained.

Regardless of complaints, Lion is likely to strike a chord with many, including Oscar voters, and it's refreshing to see the complications of a mixed racial identity brought to the screen. It might never roar but it's still a fierce contender.

3 stars