Lion (2016) * * * *

Directed by:  Garth Davis

Starring:  Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman, David Wenham, Rooney Mara, Sunny Pawar

Maybe it is sort of a blessing that Saroo was only five years old when he mistakenly boarded a decommissioned train which took him a thousand miles from home to Kolkata, India in 1986.    He is unable to express fully who he is, where he is from, and how he got into this predicament.     His situation is a nightmare, the kind in which no one can understand you no matter how clearly you speak.    He wanders the streets, scrounges for food, and avoids kidnapping by adults with devious intentions.    Months pass, but he remains resourceful and determined.     His mind can't fully grasp what has happened to him and this maybe the only thing that prevents him from crumbling in the face of such danger.     Then, he is taken to an orphanage and his life turns for the better when he is adopted by Australians John and Sue Brierley (Wenham and Kidman), who bring him to his new home on another continent.

Circa 2008, Saroo (Patel) grows up to be a loving son and seemingly well-adjusted man ready to go to hotel restaurant management school in Melbourne.    He falls for his classmate Lucy (Mara), but one day he is reminded of the family he left behind in India and goes on a quest to locate them with help from Google Earth.    We learn Saroo, despite the love of his adoptive parents, never truly felt whole.    He wonders what happened to his mother and brother, whose accidental actions led to Saroo's predicament.    He imagines seeing them everywhere.     He feels their pain in losing him.    One of the many aspects Lion gets right is that it takes the time to understand the loss from his original family's point of view also.    It isn't simply Saroo's loss.   There is a whole other side to the story.

Lion is an emotionally gripping film, mostly because it sees the situation from all sides.    But, we also think Saroo has left his old life behind, until we learn differently that he has a hole in his heart that can only be filled by finding out the whereabouts of his original family.    He is torn between his desire to locate his old family and feeling guilty that he is somehow disloyal to his adoptive family.     Sue is also dealing with Saroo's younger brother, who is battling his own demons.      Saroo and Sue have a powerful scene in which we learn the reserves of strength and kindness Sue possesses.    Viola Davis is a shoo-in to win this year's Best Supporting Actress Oscar, but I would vote for Nicole Kidman myself.    

Dev Patel has played mostly wide-eyed optimists in films like Slumdog Millionaire (2008) and both Best Exotic Marigold Hotel films.    In Lion, he shows his extraordinary range as the sad, unsettled adult Saroo.    The emotional payoffs are earned.    Patel's Best Supporting Actor nomination is well deserved as well.    However, I don't think he will win, mostly because he is coming up against another tremendous performance by Mahershala Ali in Moonlight.    Both performances are equally adept in giving us people with astonishing reserves of depth and feeling.    

The ending, which I will not give away, is touching and bittersweet.    It closes a chapter in Saroo's life while answering his questions, and ours, such as why the movie is titled Lion.    That nagged at me, until the film explained it.    It is simple, yet tells volumes as to how Saroo was unable to escape his predicament in Kolkata.     Lion is a uniquely moving movie experience.