A LONG Way Home went from documentary to book to film, but I found Saroo Brierly’s story well worth a sit-down.
The book is engrossing. Written almost like reportage, I followed Saroo (really Sheru as in Lion) as the Tasmanian adoptee wrote how he eventually had to find out about his birth family.
As he grew up with his adopted family, Saroo was a good student, but those unreconciled memories seemed to have been clipping his maturing wings.
It was not for a lack of love in Tasmania, that much is clear. So, he used Google Earth to find his way home in India. He just had to do it, because of love.
How did he end up in Australia? The book tells how a child in 1986 when to sleep in a stationary train, en route to the depot, and that was it for Saroo.
He landed in Kolkatta, and went through some experiences before he was adopted.
As an adult, he retraces his child steps back to Ganesh Talai, remembering some landmarks, and even contacted a group in Facebook from that small village in Khandwa, in Madya Pradesh.
It’s dogged work by this young man. Phew!!!! In 2012, he finds his birth mother, and they recognise each other. Oh man, it gets weepy here. And, he finds out about his elder brother, Guddu. Oh dear.
I liked it that Saroo and his Aussie mum make the trip to meet Fatima. Good people.
So, the movie is called Lion, and Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire actor) takes on Saroo’s role well enough.
Lion is a better adaptation from book to film that Hidden Figures. But it’s up for the 2017 Oscars.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RNI9o06vqo