TIFF Movie Review: ‘Lion’ Roars its Way Through the Audiences’ Hearts

Dev Patel’s latest film, "Lion," premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10

Dev Patel’s latest film, “Lion,” premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, and audiences are roaring in approval.

Having read about the movie and seen the trailer beforehand, I thought I was prepared for what I was about to see. I was wrong.

The film, which is already generating Oscar buzz, follows the unbelievable true story of Saroo Brierly. He was accidentally separated from his family at age 5. Beginning with a young Saroo, played by child actor Sunny Pawar, who will melt your heart with a single glance, the film quickly gives audiences a sense of life in rural India.

Saroo and his brother Guddu go to the train station late one evening to try and find work, but Saroo falls asleep. When he wakes up, the train car where he chose to rest is moving, whooshing him further and further away from the only family and home he knows.

After braving India’s streets, Saroo is eventually adopted by a couple from Tasmania, played by Nicole Kidman and David Wenham.

As a young Australian adult, Saroo, now played by a long-haired Patel, finds himself searching for his home in India and ends up using Google Earth to piece his memories into a map, showing the way back to his family. What follows is a heartbreakingly beautiful story that would seem completely impossible—if it wasn’t completely true.

The cinematography and the performances by all of the actors, particularly young Sunny Pawar, are phenomenal, but what really makes this film stand out is the dedication to the story.

“This is an incredible human revolution of human survival and homecoming,” Priyanka Bose, who plays Saroo’s mother, told the crowd at TIFF. She first read about Saroo’s story in an Indian tabloid and jumped at the chance to be part of the project.

Director Garth Davis added that working with the real Saroo and his family was invaluable. In particular, he called Sue Brierly, Saroo’s adoptive mother from Australia, a “guiding light” to the filmmakers. Her presence and the struggle of creating a loving home for a lost child is evident in every aspect of Nicole Kidman’s performance.

I don’t cry in movies, but believe me when I say that I sobbed from the first time young Saroo screamed his brother’s name into the dark all the way through his entire journey. The beautifully shot story about that sense of home and family pulls you in by picking apart those two ideas—all the while, never straying from the struggle of young man and his search for answers.

The film is set to release in the US on November 25 this year.

The tagline for the film is “the search begins,” but for audiences looking for this year’s standout movie, the search ends here. “Lion” truly is the cinema king this year.