Movie Review: The ‘Lion’ King : Brett Fish

tbV and i went to watch the movie Lion at the Labia theatre last night.

Let’s get this out of the way from the start: Dev Patel is one of my favourite actors. i would probably watch him in an Adam Sandler movie. Well, maybe not THAT, but most other stuff.

So although we were grappling between Lion and La La Land and even put up a Facebook poll to see where the crowds leaned [a lot said both but it was pretty much hands down in favour of Lion where there was a choice] it was an easy win.

Without giving away any spoilers [there are one or two subtle but significant ones, the biggest perhaps being where the title of the movie comes from which is revealed quite late on] i wanted to share some brief thoughts about the movie.

For those of you who have not heard of it, here is the synopsis:

A five-year-old Indian boy gets lost on the streets of Calcutta, thousands of kilometers from home. He survives many challenges before being adopted by a couple in Australia; 25 years later, he sets out to find his lost family. [IMDB]

Based on the book, ‘A Long Way Home’ by Saroo Brierley, Lion is the true life story of a young man searching for his home and family. Moves that are true or based on true stories always tend to move me that extra distance [see Hacksaw Ridge] as it not just a story, but someone’s life or at least an interpretation of it, that is flashing across the screen.

Along with Dev Patel are one or two other recognisable names such as Nicole Kidman and David Wenham [who play the adoptive parents] and Rooney Mara [his girlfriend], but they completely fade into the story which is far more powerful than any individual personality. Sunny Pawar as young Saroo does a good job of stealing the show when he is on screen despite this being his first major role [and having to learn the english lines phonetically as he only speaks English, check this out!]

In the shell of a nut, Lion is an incredible movie. It is a hard one to watch both in the beginning as the young boy gets lost and the sense of isolation and danger that he is faced in when suddenly waking up in a city hundreds of kilometers away from the small village he has grown up in are evident. Then also twenty years later as Saroo’s character is quite messed up by the pull he suddenly has to find out where he is from and where his family are now. It becomes a bit of an obsession which starts affecting all his relationships.

Strong character performances from Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman in particular as well as good support from everyone else makes this a truly heart-warming and crumbling movie. The two hours fly by like a train journey you slept through and you are left wanting more. Although the movie does a great job of throwing in a number of big punches in the last five minutes and into the credits as real life and entertainment collide. Have a tissue or sleeve handy.

Must watch movie and making it a movie event at the Labia [we went to Diva Cafė Ristorante before for pizza] is a great way to take it in.