Movie of the Week: Lion

One Sunday at the Lunch table, my brother and his wife started talking about a great movie they had just saw – and they basically told us the whole story of the movie. Lion, A Long Way Home was suddenly a movie I desperately wanted to watch. For the following 3 I wanted to watch it, but there were no theaters near me that were playing it. Luckily when I got back to Lisbon, the movie was still at one theater somehow, and so I finally went, dragging my mom with me.

I don’t think I ever cried as much while watching a movie.

Surely you know the story by now, right?

Five year old Saroo gets lost on a train which takes him thousands of miles across India, away from home and family. Saroo must learn to survive alone in Kolkata, before ultimately being adopted by an Australian couple. Twenty five years later, armed with only a handful of memories, his unwavering determination, and a revolutionary technology known as Google Earth, he sets out to find his lost family and finally return to his first home.

But the story, based on real events, is much deeper than that. We see Saroo’s struggles for years, since the moment he gets lost at 5 years old, managing to survive in unbelievable circumstances, to his issues when older, uncertain of where he belongs, feeling guilty for having a better life than the ones he left behind, and without being able to find them, and the frustration of it all.

It’s a movie that pulls at your heartstrings. It’s beautiful in its simplicity!

Everyone is great in the movie. I’m a huge fan of Dev Patel since Slumdog Millionaire, but in a way, his role here is even sadder and even more amazing. The rest of the cast is also amazing, especially little Sunny Pawar and Nicole Kidman.

It gets 5 stars from me, because I loved this movie so so much…

Now to you. Have you seen Lion? Thoughts???