Lion is a film about memory, distance, and the strange power of names. Based on the memoir A Long Way Home, it follows Saroo Brierley, who loses his way as a child in India and is eventually adopted by an Australian couple. Years later, he uses Google Earth to trace his birthplace back to its exact coordinates, setting off a search that brings him face to face with the family he left behind. It is a true story, told with restraint and a quiet dignity that keeps it from feeling like a tearjerker.
The film opens in 1986, in the Indian city of Burhanpur. Five-year-old Saroo and his older brother Guddu sell chai and ride trains to support their family. One afternoon, Saroo falls asleep on a train and wakes up hundreds of miles away, in Calcutta. He cannot find his way back, and after days of wandering, he is taken to an orphanage. The system assumes he has been abandoned and arranges his adoption by Sue and John Brierley, an Australian couple who call him Saroo.
Trailer, via Disney UK.
Saroo’s Childhood
The early scenes establish the warmth of Saroo’s home life. His mother is loving but overwhelmed, and his father works far from the family. The film does not dwell on poverty or hardship for effect; it shows a normal family doing the best they can under difficult circumstances. The brothers’ small business is presented as a shared adventure, not a grim fate.
The loss of Saroo is sudden and devastating. He wakes up in a strange city, surrounded by people who speak a language he barely understands. The film captures the terror of that moment without sensationalizing it. There is no music cue telling you to feel sad; the camera simply watches a child who is lost.
Australia and the Brierleys
Saroo’s new life in Australia is comfortable, but he never stops searching for his past. The film follows him into adulthood, where he works odd jobs and struggles with the weight of his origins. He knows his name is Saroo, but he has no idea who his parents were or where he came from. The Brierleys love him deeply, but he feels the absence of his biological family.
The film’s middle section slows down. Saroo’s daily routine — work, rent, bills — fills out the screen, and the pacing dips slightly. This is a deliberate choice, since the search for identity takes years, not minutes. The film trusts the audience to sit with the characters during these stretches, even when nothing dramatic happens.
Google Earth and the Search
The turning point comes when Saroo discovers Google Earth. He begins tracing the route of the train he took as a child, matching landmarks to his memories. The technology allows him to zoom in on the streets of Calcutta, narrowing down the area where he might have lived. The film presents this sequence with genuine wonder, showing how a simple computer program can unlock a lifetime of questions.
The search is not easy. Saroo faces setbacks, dead ends, and moments of doubt. The film does not smooth over these obstacles; it lets them land. The tension builds slowly, with each clue leading to another question rather than an answer.
Finding Home
When Saroo finally reaches the village of his childhood, the reunion is not a triumph. It is a series of small recognitions: a wall, a tree, a familiar face. The film does not stage a grand emotional climax; it shows the slow, incremental process of remembering. The scene where Saroo walks through his old neighborhood is powerful precisely because it is understated.
The film’s final stretch deals with the consequences of finding what you have been looking for. Saroo reconnects with his mother and siblings, but the reunion is complicated. He has built a life in Australia, and returning means leaving again. The film acknowledges this complexity without resolving it neatly. It ends on a note of peace, but not of closure.
Performance and Craft
Dev Patel plays Saroo across both timelines, and his performance carries the film. He moves from wide-eyed child to weathered adult with ease, and he finds the humor in Saroo’s stubborn optimism. Rooney Mara plays Sue Brierley with a quiet strength, and she grounds the story in the love that brought Saroo to Australia in the first place.
The film is directed with a light touch. It avoids the glossy polish of a Hollywood biopic, opting instead for a naturalistic style that suits its subject. The cinematography captures both the chaos of Calcutta and the calm of suburban Australia, and the editing keeps the two timelines clear without confusing the viewer.
What Works
The film’s greatest strength is its refusal to sentimentalize its subject. It treats Saroo’s search as a genuine act of discovery, not a manufactured emotional journey. The scenes of him using Google Earth are handled with care, showing the frustration and joy of piecing together a past that has been forgotten. The film also benefits from a script that stays close to the facts, drawing directly from Brierley’s memoir.
The pacing is uneven, and some viewers may find the middle section too slow. The film’s reliance on flashbacks can occasionally fragment the narrative, though the structure remains coherent. There are also moments where the film leans on familiar tropes of the adoption drama, which can make the ending feel predictable despite the real stakes.
Key Facts
- Title: Lion
- Year: 2016
- Director: Garth Davis
- Writer: Luke Davies, based on the memoir A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley
- Runtime: 146 minutes
- Score: 6.9/10
The Verdict
Lion is a film that respects its audience and its subject. It does not oversell its emotional payoff, and it does not hide its difficult questions. The reunion scenes are moving because they are earned, not manufactured. The film’s technical craft is solid, with strong performances and a steady hand behind the camera.
Where it falters is in pacing and structure. The middle section drags, and the film could have benefited from tighter editing. Some scenes feel like padding, and the story’s arc is occasionally obscured by its own length.
Despite these flaws, Lion succeeds as a human story. It tells the tale of a man who lost everything and found it again, not through luck or magic, but through memory and determination. The film is a reminder that names matter, and that the places we come from shape us even when we leave them behind.
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