Lion

Excellent story!

Dev Patel did an excellent job in the Great Merigold Hotel and here he does another excellent job in a serious role. This is based on a true story. Patel is born in a poor Indian family, mother works as a laborer and his older brother works at odd jobs. He convinces his older brother that he can help lifting bales and they travel to a town where his brother leaves him to find work. His brother does not return and he gets on a train and gets locked in, the train has no passengers and after a couple of days ends up in Calcutta. He gets off the train but speaks a different language, and ends up sleeping with homeless children. He is befriended by a lady who brings in a male friend who doesn't have the his best interests at heart and he runs away. He tries to find articles to sell at the garbage dump and he is helped by a stranger where he eventually ends up at a home for lost children, it is very brutal there. A social worker assists him and he is adapted by an Australian couple, Nicole Kidman who is excellent in the role. 20 years later he has grown up and wants to work in the hospitality business. The couple also adapted another Indian boy who has severe mental difficulties. He meets and romances Rooney Mara. Patel tries to suppress his past but it reoccurs again as he hopes to find his mother and brother. He uses a google app and with it tries to find the location of his mother and brother. After many trials and tribulations he finds the location of his home and with the blessing of Kidman and her husband returns to India to find his mother. There is a very heartfelt and tearful reunion and he finds out that his brother was killed by a train shortly after his brother left him to find work. The movie won 6 academy award nominations including best picture. He finds out that his name was mispronounced and it means Lion. Bonus features include an interview with the real Saroo and also features the real adapted mother meeting Saroo's mother in India. An excellent moving film and highly recommended.

Lion is an amazing tale of poverty and struggle based upon a true story.At the start, Saroo/Sunny Pawar is separated from his family in 1980s India. He stumbles into a life full of dangers. A woman for instance befriends him and then tries to sell him to a man. The movie also highlights the abject poverty of much of the population. Saroo runs into all kinds of homeless kids in the big city. The second part is about Saroo as an adult played by Dev Patel looking for his family.Sunny Pawar is so cute in his role even though he is facing such a dire situation. Patel plays an alienated young man since he feels like he has a whole in his life not knowing where he came from and what happened to his family.The ending is truly heartwarming and makes Lion such a worthwhile movie to watch. I know a lot of people will shed a tear.

STUNNING PERFORMANCES BY ALL. A FANTASTIC SCRIPT. EVEN THE MUSIC TRANSFORMED YOUR SENSES AND SWEPT YOU AWAY TO INDIA AND THE MOST ADORABLE LITTLE BOY AND A BEAUTIFUL SON. AND I WAS VERY GLAD TO SEE THAT THE PEOPLE IN HIS FAMILY REALLY LEARNED SOMETHING ABOUT LIFE BECAUSE IN THIS CASE, IN THIS KIND OF STORY, THE WAY IT SHOULD GO WHEN BOTH SIDES OF ONE'S LIFE IS GOOD, WAS GOOD, WHEN YOU FIND A LOST ONE THE MEMBERS ARE SUPPOSE TO COME TOGETHER IN A BOND EVEN IF THAT BOND IS NOT CALLED '''FAMILY'''' .....BUT IT IS FAMILY. IT REALLY IS FAMILY AND I'M SORRY WHEN I SEE THESE CASES AND THE PEOPLE DO NOT KNOW IT REALLY IS A FAMILY CONNECTION.I KNOW A STORY ABOUT A YOUNG GIRL AT EIGHTEEN WHO WAS PREGNANT WITHOUT MARRIAGE. SHE WAS ADOPTED BY A MOTHER WITH FOUR DAUGHTERS AND THAT CONNECTION LASTED 50 YEARS UNTIL THE OLD LADY'S DEATH IN HER 80S. 'THE BIO MOTHER OF THE YOUNG WOMAN WAS SO DISTRAUGHT OVER THE PREGNANCY BEFORE MARRIAGE, WHICH WAS DECADES EARLIER FROM WHEN SHE MET THE ADOPTED MOTHER AND SHE FELT NO GRATITUDE, NO THANKS, SHE FELT ANGER. SHE NEVER TOLD THE ADOPTED MOTHER '''THANKS''' FOR HELPING HER CHILD ALONG THE WAY. *THIS MOTHER MET HER OWN FOLLY BECAUSE OF HER ILL- WITTED SPIRIT. **BUT THEN, IT IS UPON ME TO NOTE THAT THE BIO--MOTHER FELT ANGRY BECAUSE SHE THOUGHT SHE WAS UNLOVED AND ABANDONED BY HER FIVE CHILDREN, WHO WERE OUT IN THE WORLD GAINING SUCCESS AND WAS PREPARING A WAY FOR HER TO JOIN THEM. BUT THE BIO-MOTHER COULD NOT SEE THAT. SO SHE WAS ANGRY AND NASTY AND DIDN'T FEEL GRACE AND THE BLESSINGS AND THANKSGIVING TOWARD THE ADOPTING MOTHER WHO ALSO FELT ABANDONED BY HER FOUR DAUGHTERS. ONLY ONE OF HER DAUGHTERS WAS THERE ON A DAILY BASIS AND THAT DAUGHTER HAD FIVE GROWING KIDS AND GRAND-KIDS. THE ADOPTING MOTHER WAS DISTRAUGHT BECAUSE HER OTHER THREE daughters WERE NOT THERE ENOUGH FOR HER. (This is a common drama in old mothers' lives)THE TWO DAUGHTERS THAT WERE THERE FOR THE ADOPTING MOTHER ON A DAILY BASIS WAS ONE OF HER NATAL CHILDREN AND THIS ADOPTED DAUGHTER. THEY TOOK CARE OF HER AND HER HUSBAND, THE AGING FATHER OF THE FOUR DAUGHTERS.SO SOME STORIES END VERY WELL WITH MORE FAMILY UNION NOT LESS.NEITHER OF THE ELDERLY MOTHERS WERE SATISFIED WITH THEIR ADULT CHILDREN'S CARE. IT WAS NOT ENOUGH.IT WAS GOOD TO SEE THAT MAYBE THE REAL WOMEN IN THIS STORY AND SAGA CAME TOGETHER AND MADE A BOND. MAYBE.THIS FILM KEPT ME ON THE EDGE OF MY SEAT.THANK YOU ALL FOR THIS MATURE LIFE-SCOPING PRODUCTION.*THE CUTEST KID ACTOR. HE SHOULD BECOME A STAR. BRAVO, BRAVO!!!!!!

One line- I LOVE DEV PATEL. I adore him and everything he is in. Can’t get enough of him.

Extraordinary definetly cried at the end and, was left speechless with various scenes.

Having just finished reading the book about Saroo becoming lost, it was a natural follow up to order and watch the film. So glad we did.Events of the early days are sped through, two stories are combined, some details worked around, but no problem. The account of Saroo becoming lost is tremendous here. To see actual sites where he lived, survived and escaped capture add integrity and emotion. Yes, the book details events well, photos show where they took place but seeing them on screen brings the horror of a lost child's experiences to life.The children's home and adoption process are concise too, but within an almost two hour film, you are simply swept along with it all. Life in Australia begins anew for the Brierley family, with moments of joy and challenge.Saroo's studies lead to an online search, which many of us have used to seek out familiar places, but none so life changing possibly as the case here.Following a period of obsessiveness with his search, Saroo comes across his homeland by chance - which is far further than anyone had thought possible, made as a five year old child.By now, if you have read the book, you are clinging on to the moment of Saroo meeting his mother at long last. Of course it's highly charged and emotional. As were the final scenes where actual photos of those involved were shown, with mother meeting mum.An outstanding account that has to be congratulated for following the account of Saroo as given in his writing. Very lovely, very sensitive - and well handled.I would recommend this film, yes, but would suggest those who have not yet seen it, to read the book first, then view. A very heady pair of accounts.

Brilliant film, based on Saroo Brierly's true story, and his book.The film cannot do full justice to his full story, the book gives you back ground.The film prompted me to read his book.The Brierlys must be truly amazing people, bringing up their adopted children with a sense of themselves and where they came from originally.Saroo, himself, kind hearted, loyal, considerate. Thank you, Saroo, for writing your story. Inspirational to all.Obviously emotionally painful, frightening, at times....(how could it not be?).... but also so heart warming....I think God in his heaven is watching Saroo, and his families.Blessings in your future.

This film blew my mind, especially because it is a true story. Amazing!! Superb acting, casting and soundtrack (Sia is God.) The story is about an Indian boy who lives in the slums with his mother and brother, but gets seperated from them and ends up napping on a train which takes him halfway across the country. He then gets adopted by an Australian family, but is always plagued by the fact that his family don't know what happened to him and he starts to search for them when he is an adult using Google Maps...I you liked Slumdog Millionaire then you will love this.

An incredible story thoughtfully told and beautifully filmed, with a mesmerising soundtrack.Dev Patel's performance as the lost 'Saroo' was a masterclass in fine acting. He is a wonderful actor whose rare acting qualities allows him to perform roles as disparate as wittily perceived humour and wrenching pathos. His role as 'Saroo' is of the latter type and is utterly convincing.The camera and storyline take you into the heart of Indian life: by turns both beautiful in its stunning light and scenery, but also horrific in its callous disregard for human life.It's a film that I thoroughly recommend on all of the above points, but also for the uncomfortable truth about the cheapness of human existence that is on 'open' display in India.

This film engages, shocks and fascinates. It doesn't matter how much India tells everyone they are a nuclear powered, with a space industry this film shows the harsh reality of life for millions of people. Seeing the raw images of day to day life for street kids is sad but fascinating in equal measures.Its not easy to separate fact from fiction as you expect some "artistic license" to make the film one of the best I've seen for a few years, but I expect it was basically the real story.However, improbable the ending was it is claimed to be the truth and it is uplifting.