There is a fact at the end of Lion that will make the whole film have a huge emotional punch to your stomach. I won’t share with you want the fact is but I can say that this film is a good film with a lot of genuine emotions. Lion is the story of Saroo who becomes lost in India and is then adopted by a family in Australia. When he is older he then tries to find the family he lost thanks to Google Earth. It is an emotional rollercoaster that will leave you wanting to do more good in the world. The acting, the visuals and the score all come together brilliantly to keep the emotions high and true. The story feels long, yet is only two hours, but every part of it is crucial in Saroo’s search to finding his family. I didn’t think that I would enjoy it too much, these types of films aren’t my first pick, but its one of those films that will speak to everyone and have you thinking about how lucky you are with your life and the ability to do what you want, like read this review for example. There are a few points in the film where it went a little too far into being overly spiritual and that was a little disappointing as the film had a great strong start on real/scary events. The film benefits from it being a true story and you watching it realizing that these events happened but it’s also at a disadvantage because of this as some parts aren’t needed to be explained in so much detail in the film but are because they happened. Lion is a true story, a crazy story that people might think would only happen in sad movies but this story is real and the emotion is real to the point where every little bit knocks you back and gives you another perspective on that part of the world. I enjoyed Lion greatly, I may have enjoyed it more if it had less of the real life events in it but I’m glad it was true to itself and kept with its own story. It doesn’t feel right to say that I enjoyed it because of what the film is about but I do hope that this film’s existence will help the issues that the film packs a lot of emotional weight behind.
Expectation Level: Medium, Oscar buzz
Expectations Achieved: I can see why this film is nominated for Golden Globes and most likely the Oscars, it deserves at least one.
Score: 4/5 – A great film with huge emotional weight behind it. It’s enjoyable and saddening at the same time and will leave you wanting to do more good in the world. I reccomend you see it for a good way to spend two hours whilst also supporting a good cause.
Lion is out on the 19th of January