Lion (2016)

LION  (2016)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
    D: Garth Davis
    Dev Patel, Sunny Powar, Rooney Mara,
    Nicole Kidman, David Wenham, Divian Ladwa
Somewhere in the vast expanse of India, a five-year-old boy named Saroo stows away in a decommissioned railroad car and falls asleep. By the time he wakes up, the car is locked and the train is moving, and when he finally gets out, two days and 1600 kilometers later, he's in Calcutta, with a legion of other lost children. Saroo's lot is luckier than most. After some hard time on the streets and a brief stint in a hellish orphanage, he's adopted by an Australian couple (Nicole Kidman and David Wenham) and grows up to be played by Dev Patel. But he never stops feeling lost, or longing to get back home. The movie's about his search for a place he can barely remember and a mother he can never forget. It's a heroic journey, and a deeply compassionate look at what it's like to be displaced. Sunny Powar, who plays the young Saroo, is remarkable, and much of his story is told without words. Most of us have had a much less perilous time of it than Saroo. We don't even think about it all that much, but a significant part of our time on the planet, from where we start out to where we end up, is a matter of luck. A movie like this one can make you appreciate that.