Lion

I have enjoyed Dev Patel’s performances ever since seeing him in the Oscar winning “Slum Dog Millionaire.”  “The Most Exotic Marigold Hotel” movies and the HBO series “Newsroom” gave him a chance to show different aspects of his acting skills.  His newest film, “Lion” blows those performances out of the water.  Patel has been deservedly nominated for an Academy Award for playing the grown up Indian boy Saroo.  His character is based on the real story of a young Indian boy who is separated from his family by tragic circumstances and ends up trapped on a train that dumps him 1200 miles away from home and in an area of India where his language, Hindi, is not commonly spoken.  How this little boy survives on his own for months as a street urchin and is finally adopted would be enough for a whole movie, and yet that is only 1/2 the story.  The second half of the movie is where Patel shines as the grown up Saroo who has been lovingly raised by Australian parents.  He longs, though, to be reunited with his birth mother and siblings, if only so they can know he is still alive.  This sweet journey will make anyone with a heart reach for a tissue.   Please go enjoy this wonderful movie as I am sure it won’t be out long and is worth seeing on the big screen.