Film Analysis - Week 45 - Lion (2016)

Film Analysis – Week 45

Lion (2016) – Directed by Garth Davis

Starring: Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman and Rooney Mara

Being a nominee for the 89^th Academy Awards’ Best Picture, it is held to a high standard, and for good reason. Films based upon real life stories are often held with higher praise and connect with the audience on a better level. They evoke emotions that can only be created through a sense of empathy. ‘Lion’ takes the story of a five year old Indian boy from Kolkata (Calcutta) who is separated from his home, his mother, brother and sister. Automatically, the protagonist is a child; therefore the audience have a natural instinct and reaction to all that happens to the child. By placing the child, Saroo (Sunny Pawar) in a situation of economic poverty, the audience feels the need to help and support him. Therefore each action or event that occurs regarding him throughout the film, we feel a strong sense of emotion whether it is sorrow from the inability to help, or the swelling sensation of happiness when he finds help.

This film is about character development, a recent surge in ‘straight Drama’ films shows that audiences are interested in hearing the tales of others and experiencing real human connection. This is where the era of filmmaking began, when filmmakers were given the chance to tell stories about people, their experiences, virtues and struggles. ‘Lion’ brings back this era that vanished into the ether around the 1960s with the surge of superhero and action films. Films that were about the extraordinary or the most violent, gushing and tense situation were at the peak of cinema. I believe that this film uses it’s empathetic characters and compelling story to invite the audience into a tale about loss and recover. These are key themes that are explored in the film however they are also part of the films branding and charm. It is marketed as a film of adventure and discovery, as many other features have done in the recent years. A comparative example is 2015’s ‘The Revenant’ in which a father goes searching for the killer or his son. The relation between ones family and their past is greatly explored and is the sole motivation for the character of Saroo (Dev Patel) once he is older. However, the film does skip a large portion of time, 20 years, to show how he has progressed as a person.

An alternative comparison that can be made with this film is its portrayal and dismissal of capitalistic and privileged lives. As the protagonist has experienced another life, in which he had to fend for himself, work day in and day out to survive he poses a new perspective to the film that leads him to be disgusted with the life he now lives. Coming from the village Ganesh Talei in India to now living with a wealthy family in Tasmania, his inner urges drive him over the edge, making him feel compelled to return home and meet his family. The audience go in with knowledge of the end goal, yet don’t experience that until very late in the film. We as the audience want to see Saroo progress, find his roots back in India and prosper. However the portrayal of his sorrow and that of those around him including his adoptive mother (Nicole Kidman), leads us to worry.

The film can be split into three different acts of progression. The first act is used as context and exposition for the protagonists past and to demonstrate the origin of all the conflict that will later confront him. These first forty minutes are entirely in Hindi and Bengali, this can make it difficult for the audience as needs the audience to understand the contextual issues that arise for Saroo and his family. This realistic portrayal of poverous India is necessary for the story in order to build up background context, but to also help create a sense of empathy for the protagonist. Many western filmmakers are scared to show foreign countries in their true light, often making foreign actors speak in English just for the benefit of a western audience. However, in order to represent the truth behind this story the filmmakers chose to simply portray the first act in India as it truly would be. This sense of realism makes it feel like India. Language barriers exist in every part of the world, the film shows that within India there are hundreds of different languages spoken. To a five year old boy like Saroo who only speaks Hindi, facing Bengali speaking people who not only be haunting but intimidating. This separation between Hindi and Bengali is important, and it is portrayed as a significant point of interest through the film.