Movie Review: Lion

In Lion, Dev Patel plays an adopted Australian man seeking his mother in a small Indian village with the assistance of Google Earth. (Ask Jeeves was busy.)

Following on from Slumdog Millionaire, in which he played a street-urchin-turned-serendipitous-quiz-genius on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Patel solidifies his status as cinema’s leading champion of pop culture relics from the 2000s. When, we must wonder, will he star in the ultimate ‘Planking’ film?

Unlike Slumdog Millionaire, Lion is based on a true story; that of Saroo Brierley, author of the autobiographical novel A Long Way Home, co-written by Larry Buttrose and adapted for the screen by writer and poet Luke Davies (Candy). It’s a miraculous tale, though one that relies heavily on a device filmmakers have struggled to make cinematic: staring at a computer for long stretches.

Director Garth Davis, of the disorienting miniseries Top of the Lake, finds a solution by using Google Earth’s all-seeing eye as inspiration for cinematographer Greig Fraser’s framing. Crane shots and roaming cameras come to mimic the experience of scrolling through Google Earth, only without the pixilation and buffering. I’m not saying this should become the standard for all future ‘searching’ movies, but hey, it’s more visually striking than the only other Google flick: The Internship.

The first act features endearing child actor Sunny Pawar as young Saroo, accidentally separated from his older brother Guddu (Abhishek Bharate) and mother (Priyanka Bose) and caught on a train to Kolkata, 1,600km away from his small village. Left to fend for himself in the streets, and eventually an orphanage, he winds up adopted by Tasmanian couple Sue and John Brierley (Nicole Kidman, David Wenham).

Raised in a life of relative privilege, adult Saroo (now Patel) heads to Melbourne to study Hotel Management, where he sparks up a relationship with Lucy (an invention of the movie), played by Rooney Mara. His first-world guilt kicks in and his mind wanders back to the fate of his family. Closure seems hopeless, until a schoolmate asks if he’s heard of this new thing that might help him find home: Google Earth.

Even those who’ve avoided the real-life denouement are surely expecting a gut-punch ending; either a joyful reunion or crushing clarity. Patel, with a convincing Australian accent, helps make the journey a worthwhile one, as does Kidman, Wenham and Mara. Pawar does the heaviest lifting, carrying aloft a hefty chunk of the running time on his tiny shoulders alone.

Davis doesn’t intrude too much with his direction, utilising some inventive cross-cutting to ratchet up the tension and exhilaration as Saroo nears the end of his journey. Ultimately, the makers know when to get out of the way of Saroo’s story, and not step on it with their telling. It results in a sweet, pleasantly uncomplicated ode to family, and the ties that bind us to them—adopted or otherwise.

It’s a tearjerker, according to the assorted sniffles overheard in my screening. The revelation of the title’s meaning, just before the end credits, might be what sends you over the edge, if you’d maintained dry eyes up to that point. (Lion shares that in common with Frances Ha, if literally nothing else.)

3.5/5

In cinemas January 19. Rated PG for mild themes.

Photo: Transmission Films