‘Life beats film’ might be one of those clichéd phrases, but it fits perfectly with ‘Lion‘, Garth Davis‘ 2016 debut as a film director. The film is based on the true story of Indian-Australian businessman Saroo Brierley, who was lost as a child by his family in vast India and adopted by an Australian family in Tasmania. The real Saro Brierley wrote a book describing his years-long search, finding and reuniting with his biological mother and siblings left behind in India. If it had been a fictional story, ‘Lion‘ would probably have been criticized as excessive melodrama. Aided as it is by an inspired final that ties it to reality, the film is compelling and manages to create genuine emotion.
The first half of the film is excellently crafted. Nothing shows that we are dealing with a first-time feature films director. Garth Davis brings to life in detail the India of the 90s, with its geographical dimensions and especially with its human dimensions, with contrasts and poverty but also with the complex humanity that populates it. Greig Fraser‘s cinamatography is exquisite. The lead role in this part is interpreted by an Indian kid named Sunny Pawar, exceptional in expressiveness and intensity. The hero’s journey, from the moments he leaves his native village and is separated from his older brother to the moment he is adopted by the Australian couple and travels to Tasmania, was a true x-ray of India at that time.
Twenty years later, Saroo is by all accounts a young Australian of Indian origin. His identity crisis only kicks in when he leaves Tasmania to study in Melbourne, where he is faced with questions about his origins. Memories regain their place, the image of the biological mother and brother from whom he had been separated gradually replaces that of the adoptive parents and brother, and the questions left open turn into obsession. Nicole Kidman was chosen by the real Mrs. Brierly to play her role and manages to give her – in few but well-written scenes – consistency. On the other hand, the fictional character of Lucy, Saroo’s Australian girlfriend, seems out of sync with the rest of the story and Rooney Mara‘s casting is not the most inspired either. Dev Patel is a very talented and extremely charismatic actor. I think he managed to fit into the role of grown-up Saroo well, and the scenes where he reminisces about his past or imagines the possible future reunion are the best in the second part of the film, which otherwise doesn’t live up to the first part. The ending is familiar to anyone who knows the story that inspired the film, and yet, the way it was done, many viewers will shed a tear or two. In the end ‘Lion‘ is not much inferior to the true story.