A lost boy and his very long journey home
Hollywood likes to present adaptations of true-stories based on a person or a book but often, the story lacks attention to detail or ends up becoming a glorified version of the original tale. Lion by Garth Davies is a film which goes beyond the typical stereotypes of the genre.
Set in India during 1986, the film is based on the non-fiction book A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley and Larry Buttrose. It is an account of a little Indian boy who is separated thousands of miles from his home by a cruel twist of fate. Growing up in another continent with only a few childhood memories, a determination to trace his real family and Google Earth, he journeys back to where it all began in search of his lost past.
The film opens up with a five year old Saroo and his older brother Guddu who wander about the streets collecting rocks to sell in exchange for food; they get split up at the railway station one night during a trip to the city in search of work. Unknowingly, Saroo falls asleep in rusty compartment in an empty train, waiting for his brother to return. To his horror upon waking up, he is far away from home ending up in the chaotic Kolkata where the language barrier proved problematic. He can only speak and understand Hindi but not Bengali which is the language that the locals spoke. The feel of claustrophobia and the panic of being lost is conveyed with…
