Netflix has added Lion, a truly heartbreaking movie that had audiences in floods when it originally came out.
The word spread like wildfire when Garth Davis's film hit the tail end of the 2016 festival circuit. Immediately labeled a tear-jerker, this wasn't a film that would simply give you the sniffles. Audiences and critics alike had been full-on ugly crying and the floods of tears continued when it arrived in cinemas. The personal odyssey of a five-year-old Indian boy touched hearts around the world and has now arrived on Netflix in the US (UK audiences can rent it via Prime Video).
Based on a true story, it's a personal epic, following the young Saroo when he's separated from his impoverished family and finds himself thousands of miles away from home, totally alone and at the mercy of all the dangers that go with life on the city streets. His strong survival instinct eventually leads him to a children's home where he's chosen for adoption by an Australian couple and he starts a new life on the other side of the world. Twenty-five years later, and fuelled by the longing to discover the truth about his past, he embarks on a search to find his home, his family and, most importantly, himself.
While Davis's feature debut won critical approval, audiences totally fell in love with his film, giving it a 91% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Nominated for six Oscars but earning the dubious distinction of leaving the ceremony empty handed, it fared better at BAFTA, where it won two awards. One went to Dev Patel, who had been catapulted to fame in the multi-Oscar winner Slumdog Millionaire, just eight years previously. As the older Saroo, his lengthy struggle to find his long-lost mother and brother was sincere and emotional, culminating in a reunion that didn't so much tug at the heartstrings as tear them to shreds.
And eight-year-old Sunny Pawar, who played the young Saroo, attracted just as much attention. Speaking no English at the start of filming and with very little dialogue, his expressive face — his eyes in particular — said everything, as did the sight of the vulnerable little boy in the midst of teeming crowds. Both actors took us to the very heart of their character.
For Patel, who had charmed audiences ever since Slumdog, Lion marked a move to a wider range of roles, including the mystical The Green Knight (2021) and the underrated The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019). More recently, the actor has ventured into action territory in the brutal Monkey Man, where he took up the director's chair for the first time. Lion also presaged a career uplift for his well-established co-star, Nicole Kidman, who played his adoptive mother. The lower profile films of the years before its release — Before I Go To Sleep (2014), The Secret In Their Eyes (2015) – were replaced by The Killing Of A Sacred Deer (2017), Destroyer and Boy Erased (both in 2018). She hasn’t looked back since.
As we head into 2025's awards season, Lion is a timely reminder of the fine films that find their way into the nominations but don’t necessarily win the trophies. With its powerful and personal story, a keen eye for authenticity and detail in its locations, and impressive performances, it's still a winner in its own right. Keep those tissues handy, though. You’ll need them.
Lion arrived on Netflix in the US on January 9, 2025.
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