5/28/2023 0 Comments Roar of the forgotten souls![]() Read Katherine Monk’s Movie Reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, and here in the The archive.SMW Subobject for 2 Magic defence bonus: 0 Examine: All that they once were has been lost to time. In so many ways, this story of a small boy lost in a sprawling land finds truly epic proportions, not because it’s trying to go big, but exactly the opposite: it’s determined to find meaning in the beings, things and feelings we often deem too small to matter. It also adds a much-needed page to Hollywood tradition with a fully sexualized representation of a non-white male lead, and for Nicole Kidman fans, Lion offers a career-redeeming performance for the Oscar-winning Aussie in a supporting role. It shows us India without the typical romantic filters, allowing us to see it as it truly is - the beauty, the ugliness, and the enduring mystery. He finds the universals in a world of specifics: the mother-child bond, the respect for one’s own personal needs represented by romantic love, and the inevitable guilt that comes with good fortune in the midst of catastrophe.Īmplified by the performances from this stellar ensemble cast that affirms and massages each tender emotion with subtle, but deeply connected moments, Lion is more than a rich tapestry of feeling. His identity begins to fragment with every pixellated piece of the Google Earth puzzle one single soul struggling to find his proper place in the gigantic picture.ĭavis ensures we’re right there with him for every step of his incredible journey. There’s nothing very cinematic about someone staring at a computer screen, printing maps and placing pins in a cork board, but thanks to Patel’s expressive face and Davis’s dramatic design, the physical search is reflected in Saroo’s relationship with the safe, western world around him: his girlfriend Lucy (Rooney Mara), his parents John and Sue (Wenham, Kidman), even his eduction at a hotel management school. ![]() He’s haunted by guilt and ghosts, so when a friend mentions a new tool called Google Earth, he starts searching the satellite imagery for something familiar: A rain tower next to a train platform, a rock quarry swarming with butterflies, a narrow street in a small Indian town.Ĭheers to that: Nicole Kidman hands in a career-redeeming performance as Sue Brierley. Now a grown man played by Dev Patel, Saroo is a fully assimilated Aussie, but he still remembers his mother, his brother Guddu, and the swarms of butterflies. Yet, flash forward 20 years, and we can see the psychological scars remain - not just within Saroo, but the entire family that continues to struggle with unanswered questions from the past. Kidman and Wenham have a believable chemistry as a couple, and we can feel the love wash over Saroo in each tender scene. The immediate threat to Saroo’s wellbeing is gone. This is where the viewer can take a deep breath, and relax a little. It’s all too believable a horror, yet Saroo is one of the lucky ones: He’s adopted by an Australian couple in Tasmania (David Wenham, Nicole Kidman) where he begins a new life as Saroo Brierley. The swelling sympathy translates into suspense as Saroo faces Fagin-like threats from every corner, eventually landing in an orphanage where children are whisked off into the night, and returned broken. ![]() In doing so, he humanizes every forgotten child around him without forced plot or dialogue, just a lingering gaze into sad eyes. He soon disappears into the faceless mass of homeless children scavenging food and sleeping on cardboard boxes in train stations, a forgotten soul, a social discard.ĭavis works dark, Dickensian wonders with these scenes because he finds a way to show us the chaos of the multitudes while focusing on Saroo - a single boy who is loved by his family, yet completely lost, and so far from home. He’s in the middle of Kolkata, a city of millions, without money, family or even an understanding of the local language, Bengali. Saroo falls asleep on a decommissioned train and ends up 1600 kilometres from home. Far From Home: Sunny Pawar makes an auspicious debut as young Saroo Brierley in Lion ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |