Lion (2016)

Before watching this film, Lion, I knew a moderate amount about the content. I knew that it has been nominated for six Oscars! I knew the list too, it was: actor in a supporting role(Dev Patel), actress in a supporting role(Nicole Kidman), adapted screenplay(Luke Davies), original score(Volker Bertelmann and Dustin O’Halloran) and cinematography(Greig Fraser). This is an impressive list of nominations to me and I hoped that the film would be deserving of them. As far as the cast goes, I  knew a few but not most. I probably was most familiar with Dev Patel(from his roles in Skins and Slumdog Millionaire) and Rooney Mara(from her roles in The Social Network and Carol). Surprisingly, I hadn’t seen Nicole Kidman in much before I watched this film, at least, in my recent memory. As far as marketing, I had only seen the poster and online synopses. I was not blown away by the poster, it seemed mild and unoriginal – the polar opposite of Moonlight‘s poster (my review here). The synopsis told me that this film would be a story of family and being lost in the world – which is good enough subject matter. I did not know it was based on a true story before watching. With this knowledge going in, I jumped into the film, head first.

This film was truly touching. It forced me to hold my heart as I held back a tear. I didn’t think films had the ability to do that to me anymore. I could not agree more with the nominations it has received this year. Of course, I have a few minor complaints as I would about the majority of the medium, but I cannot overstate how much I enjoyed this film. From the open showing a couple of impoverished siblings all the way to the heartwarming reconnection at the end, I could not take my eyes away from the screen. Just to put it out there: I think this is my forerunner for best picture. Firstly, I want to shed light on the screenplay, which for me, includes narrative structure and dialogue. The film is in two foreign languages for the first half, which I enjoyed for two reasons. One: I think that reading subtitles keep me actually interested in what the characters are saying. And, two: it gives the story a more authentic feeling. It looks and sounds exactly what I imagine the events would have looked and sounded like. Another aspect of the screenplay I enjoyed is the degree to which we stayed locked in out protagonist’s perspective. There are not any needless cutaways to what Saroo’s mother and family are doing because we need to know just as much as Saroo and no more. This basic, but important, use of information omission made this film for me. Also about the screenplay, it was just real and simple. If I were to have one complaint about the screenplay, it was the writing for Rooney Mara‘s character, Lucy. She seemed to overdramatise moments in the film that just wasn’t necessary. I mean that there wasn’t enough build up for their relationship for me. One second they were meeting in the hotel management course, the next she was pressuring Saroo into telling his adopted mum about how he was trying to find his real family. That escalation was too soon for me. This problem is partly screenplay and partly editing I think. I would find Lucy screaming at Saroo in the street and it didn’t feel as real as the rest of the writing in the film. For example, Kidman‘s character who was written well enough to make her motivations overwhelmingly clear, with a fantastic monologue about her childhood. She definitely deserves the nomination, perhaps not the win, though. Another good tool used in the screenplay was the character of Mantosh(Divian Ladwa) who was utilised as a foil for Saroo. Or in other words, a way to show Saroo as better because Mantosh is off the rails. That character is also used to show the audience what Saroo could have been with the wrong opportunities.

Next, the score was absolutely fantastic. It is one I can say was not too heavy — which is rare for me. It gave way to rises in emotion that perhaps I wouldn’t have felt its power if it hadn’t been there. It was most importantly balanced. It was not constant, and it was there when needed. It wasn’t used as a crutch to deliver emotions, which some films do, unfortunately. There aren’t any instances in which I can reference it being especially good because that is the power of a great score – it’s invisible. I feel like the cinematography was the weakest of the nominations, in my opinion, but it was still amazing. It had a curious camera, which means it would creep round the corner to see a scene. For example, when Saroo and the rest of the lost children were learning English, the camera entered the scene by panning and pushing around and into a door. Through doing this it makes us, the audience, mimic the camera and become more curious towards the story. Another great use of camera work in the film was the few times matching shots were used. For instance, when Saroo was walking by a river or lake, there was a matching cutaway of his young, real mother looking for him. Of course, this was just in Saroo’s mind (another example of great film perspective). Similarly, the camera revealed how often Saroo was thinking of his brother Guddu by putting the young actor in scenes at random. This is a stylistic choice of director Garth Davis but shows really well have often, and to what degree, Guddu is on Saroo’s mind. I cannot say that I noticed an overwhelming colour scheme in this film but it was coloured very realistically which is a strength to the final film so I cannot complain about it. A really nice moment found in the film that made me feel emotional was when Saroo was recently lost and was laying down moving pebbles around and repeating what his mother would say to him: “Good Boy” – in Hindi. This was matched with cutaways to the memory Saroo was thinking of. It was extremely touching.

To be totally honest, I struggle to think of too many negatives of the film so I will just recount my thoughts of the ending because I thought it was especially powerful. Saroo returns to where his old home was after 25 years and finds his mother. They reunite within a crowd of joyous Indian folk. It was extremely heartwarming as the camera pans around the group, quick cuts show a range of emotions from both Saroo and his mother(Priyanka Bose). The craft was excellent, paired with a rising score. More information is revealed about where Guddu was and Shekila is shown as well. It initially frustrated me that Guddu was killed and I didn’t get to see the two brothers meeting again. However, I came to appreciate it because it both stayed true to the real story (I assume) and it also made kept it real, it was not a true fairytale ending. I like that realism in my films. After that, we saw some stock footage of the real Saroo introducing his adopted family to his biological mother. It was touching to see that. It gave it a documentary feeling which was surprising, but good surprising. Title cards told us more about the true fate of Guddu and best of all, and I found this really incredible, the film linked to a charity that aids the struggles it displayed. I think that it is terrible that I was shocked by this. If every tragic film fought against the tragedy they showed then the world would be much better and more moral. Thank you for that Lion for opening my eyes, and making me realise that film is more than art, it can be used as a positive effect more than just awareness. Make the audience active in end to make the world a positive place. Here is the link to their charity page to help the lost children in India. Now I have to give a special shout out to the amazing acting. I’m not sure what the criteria are for being nominated as a lead actor in the Oscars but Dev Patel deserved all he gets. His performance was believable and he brought that character to life (despite how cliche that sounds). Nicole Kidman certainly deserved her nomination for her monologue alone, but her entire performance was great. I would say that the weakest performance of the main cast was Rooney Mara but even then she was terrific with the script she was given

Overall, this was an amazing film that I will not forget soon. It may even become a classic, at least I hope it will. I loved the filmmaking and the acting. There are definite weaknesses that can’t merely be overlooked. However, the film was probably a nine out of ten (which I wouldn’t give often). All the nominations I would agree with, especially best picture. There isn’t much more to say about it. It was a great film and the charity shout out at the end shows enormously great intentions. Let me reiterate: this film is extremely effective at making me feel powerful emotions.