Lion (2016)

Two Geeks and a GIT Classic Movie Reviews

The second film in our "Bulgarian Biographies" pairing (because they're both biographies suggested by students from American University of Bulgaria) is also based on actual events as it follows the journey of a five-year-old Indian boy named Saroo (Sunny Pawar) who, when traveling with his older brother Guddu (Abhishek Bharate), becomes separated and falls asleep on an empty train. Saroo awakens thousands of miles from home in Calcutta, is all alone, doesn't speak the dominant language, and almost runs afoul of several horrors before he is taken to an orphanage and, eventually, placed with John (David Wenham) and Sue (Nicole Kidman) Brierley, a couple from Tasmania. Saroo grows up in Tasmania (played at this point by the incredible Dev Patel) and it isn't until he has gone to trade school that a chance encounter at a party reawakens long-dormant memories of his life before the Brierleys. Saroo, with his girlfriend Lucy (Rooney Mara) begins his quest to find his birth family, with the help of a new tool of the day, something known as "Google Earth." This is a touching and courageous story that ends just as it should, and also lets us see the real folks behind this story before the credits roll as well! Plus, the trio reveal how the recent headlines about the Supreme Court prompted them to change their upcoming film list to include two films about the justices of the highest court in the land!