Lion (2016)

It was ok. Since its a true story, I know it's sad what he went through, but we don't know much about the other characters. The adopted parents didn't seem very interesting. I think this story is more powerful if it was on the news than in a movie. It was about this lost son trying to find his mother in India for over 20 years. Though what happened in his life was sad, there isn't much story. It just goes in circles till he finds his mom.

From a poor rural Indian family, 5-year old Saroo ends up in Calcutta, over 1,000 miles from home. Unable to explain where he comes from, he is ultimately adopted by an Australian family. Still troubled by the memories of his first family, the invention of GoogleEarth enables him to look for the childhood home he lostThis is a great, great story, and I really wanted to like this film rather more than I did.There is a lot which is good about it. Dev Patel as adult Saroo is excellent, Nicole Kidman and David Wenham are both good as his adoptive Australian parents - I had to put to one side my feeling that they are the "go to" Australians for these sort of parts in recognition of box-office clout - and Sunny Pawar as young Saroo is also very good. So the performances work. The location work, both in India and Australia is also good although, again I had to put a lid on a strong feeling that I had only recently seen Indian youngsters suffering hard times in slums in Slumdog Millionaire.But two things meant that this film was not the success for me which I had hoped it would be. One was the fact that I think it would have worked much better as a dramatisation than an adaptation - if the narrative had not featured Saroo's fellow adoptee, his troubled "brother" Mantosh, or his American girlfriend Lucy, both of whom were major obstructions to the narrative flow without having any dramatic purpose (other than that they actually existed), the film wouldn't have felt quite so bumpy.And the other thing is that much of it took far too long to make its point or, having made it, lingered far too long before moving on. I understood the purpose of showing us the enormity of 5-year old Saroo vs Calcutta - how huge, how daunting, how terrifying for a small child. But I think the audience - or this member of it, at any rate - got the point a good 10 minutes before it stopped being shown. Ditto the train journey to Calcutta. Ditto Saroo moping around Melbourne.The film is 2 hours long, and would have been a much more involving experience at half an hour less.I wouldn't discourage anyone from seeing it - the final sequence is worth seeing on its own - but, for me, it was a worthy effort which didn't quite succeed.

This film was so deeply thought out that it's story was so engaging and phenomenal to witness. The film is not just good but a nail bitting, heart gripping experience to watch. From a child living in poverty in India to living in Australia in safety and with a family. The idea of gaining something but loosing something else is shown in this story that this man unknowingly heading to a like of rich love and the safety of a home but in doing that loosing his own family. These ideas and events leave your mind in shock! It's astonishing to watch this journey!

LION was a fantastic film that must be watched by everyone. All actors were amazing but I was absolutely blown away by Sunny Pawar, who played young Saroo. He pulled the audience's heart strings with the struggles he faced trying to return home. I was also equally amazed at the child actor that played the role of Saroo's adopted brother. His performance in the short amount of time he had on screen was raw and astounding. He managed to make the audience feel various emotions and you can see that he must of faced a lot of conflict and has suffered which made him the way he is now. Both child actors gave an outstanding performance in their roles. When Saroo is a grown man he has relationship problems with his girlfriend which created some drama. I thought this was unnecessary and was not needed in the film. Otherwise, the film was great and all the actors did an outstanding job in their roles.