Lion (PG)

four stars

Dir: Garth Davis

With: Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman, Rooney Mara

Runtime: 118 minutes

SLUMDOG Millionaire brought the plight of India’s street children before western audiences. Lion treads similar territory, but it is a more complex, satisfying tale, bringing in subjects such as international adoption and identity.

Saroo (Sunny Pawar) is five years old. Tiny as he is, his is a life of dangerous work, boarding moving trains with his big brother to steal coal, and desperate poverty. His family has nothing, but there is a wealth of love at home. One night, Saroo’s sibling asks him to wait on a station bench while he asks about work. The youngster wanders on to a train, only for it to start moving. What will become of him now?

Adapted from the book, A Long Way Home, by Saroo Brierley, Lion has another link with Slumdog in that it starts Dev Patel, who plays the older Saroo. Director Garth Davis, here making his feature debut after the acclaimed TV drama Top of the Lake, takes his time with the (true) story, flashing back and forth from today to all those years ago. He builds up a real sense of peril in the early stages, following this with a more considered drama as Saroo begins to hunger after answers about his past. When he gets them there will barely be a dry eye in the house. Patel is terrific, the man to Slumdog Millionaire’s boy.