^{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.}

REVIEW 

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Adapted from Saroo Brierley's novel non-fiction "A Long Way Home" novel, Lion tells of a lost man and how to find his way back. Taking background 1982 in Khandwa, a poor city in India. The little Saroo (Sunny Pawar), then aged five, had to be separated from Guddu (Abhishek Bharate), his brother when he accidentally fell asleep in a train carriage which then carried him thousands of miles from home. Without ever knowing how to go home, Saroo ends up in an orphanage in Calcutta where fate then brings him to Australian married couple John Brierley (David Wenham) and Sue Brierley (Nicole Kidman) who then adopts it. Though living in a state of affluence with the future stretched out with his new family, Saroo (Dev Patel) has never stopped thinking about his home and his real family, even though 20 years have passed. 

It must be admitted that Lion's first hour was extraordinary. Davis has brought us into an emotional journey when watching how little Saroo should be separated from his family. There is such an intimate and so personal affinity built on the premise of this simple, simple adaptation of the story, then makes us quickly sense what their characters are feeling, there is a great deal of concern and sympathy for the character of Saroo who is fantastically played by the little actor Sunny Pawar and How Davis directing makes every moment so appealing without being overwhelming in dramatizing every scene. The world depicted through the eyes of Saroo by Davis and DoP, Greig Fraser is so big and crowded, full of people but there is a sense of isolation in the new world that makes our little hero as if trapped by an invisible wall, seeking help in the clash of languages and limitations The thought of a five-year-old boy whining for his mother.

Not that in the rest of the duration the Lion becomes worse, not at all, but after our emotions are thrashed at the beginning of the film is difficult to then present the same powerful cornucopia despite seeing the process of adult Saroo is upset and miss the house remains as important. Maybe because now Saroo already has a better life including a lover, Lucy (Rooney Mara). Now the conflict comes from within itself, no longer from hunger, cold or fear of becoming a victim of human trafficking but how to seek the way home, the inner contrast that is not as simple as it looks when it fears to upset its adoptive family. Despite losing much character exploration in the second half including a slightly stumbling narrative, Davis tries to maintain his momentum by presenting the contrast between the past and the present with the use of satellite imagery technology through Google Map, until then unknowingly our tear glands shake violently When Davis invites us to the end of a story that although predictable but hard not to drift in a moment of touch. 

Performance Dev Patel deserves thumbs up. Perhaps his best performance after Slumdog Millionaire when he succeeded in bringing the turmoil of a child who missed the house despite the admittedly Sunny Pawar performance is already really steal the attention as a small Saroo. There is Nicole Kidman who also plays well as an adoptive mother figure with a big heart who cares for her family, including her worst adoptive children. Little unfortunate character Rooney Mara and David Wenham did not seem too important here.

RATING (8/10)

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