It is not uncommon for reality to go beyond fiction. And real incredible stories regularly give rise to a particularly moving film or series, as has proven Untouchables, 12 years a Slave or 127 hours For example. This is also the case with one of the films to discover on the TV program this week, which had turned upside down the viewers when it was released in 2016.
This feature film retraces the crazy story of Saroo Brierley, adapting his memories entitled I wanted to find my mother. In a disadvantaged village in India in 1985, the young Saroo, 5 years old, follows his brother at work and falls asleep exhausted on a bench in one of the stations. When he woke up, his brother disappeared. Alone and distraught, the child then decides to get on a train and finds himself in Calcutta, more than 1500 kilometers from the place where he lives and not to mention the local dialect. The months of wandering in the streets of the city follow before a passerby discovered it and entrusts it to a local orphanage, where it will be adopted by an Australian family.
But the already crazy story does not stop here: twenty years later, Saroo Brierley decides to go in search of his biological family, without knowing where his native village is. It will take him five years of research before he ended up finally finding his biological mother in 2012. It is not surprising that his story gave birth to a film, four years later.
Lion is produced by the Australian filmmaker Garth Davis (Marie Madeleine, the replacement). The first role is played by Dev Patel, revealed by Slumdog Millionaire. Other prestigious actors complete the distribution, such as Nicole Kidman or Rooney Mara. For the film to be as authentic as possible, director Garth Davis attended the meeting between the biological mother of Saroo and his adoptive mother, while the real Saroo Brierley helped the preparation of the film by providing essential anecdotes.
The result is paying, since the very moving feature film appealed to the spectators when it was released. If you haven’t seen yet Liondon’t panic: the feature film is broadcast on television on Wednesday, May 7, 2025. To see it, you have to go to Arte (TNT channel 7) from 9 p.m.
