A true story, of a five year old boy, Saroo, separated from his protective older brother, in the confusion of a crowded railway station in India, who becomes swept away from everything he knew, lost for 25 years, until he pieces together the few fragments of his childhood memories to solve the puzzle of from whence he came..

Five year old Saroo is played by Sunny Pawar (seen above on the right.) The flow of events takes this story and the child into territory when you might think not to watch any further because of what you think might happen next; but stay with it, because this screenplay, to its remarkable credit just doesn't go there. Where it does go is a fascinating journey through contemporary India -- it's darker realms--its redeeming institutions

Saroo grows into fine young man after being rescued from a grim Indian orphanage, and was adopted by an Australian couple, the Brierly's, thoroughly decent adoptive parents, played by John Wenham and Nicole Kidman who, as Sue Brierly, delivers her finest role since playing Grace Kelly in 2014's Grace of Monaco. Kidman won several awards and an Oscar nomination for Lion. She carries this story two decades forward, raising Saroo to the point when he decides he must find his brother and learn where his hometown is located.

The adult Saroo is played by Dev Patel, whom we've seen in Slumdog Millionaire. or perhaps on his two-year stint on HBO's Newsroom, one of the finest efforts to depict the news media in recent memory. If you missed him there. He also shined in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Dev Patel is more than just a young English actor. In Lion, he becomes the relentless force that drives this story to its conclusion.

This is one of the finest motion pictures of the entire 2017 season.It has been in release for months, and has just come to Netflix.

- -Thomas Ormsby  
(see also my review of Dunkirk)