TIFF's premiere of LION and how it brings us home

 

By Sonya Davidson (above photo courtesy of TIFF)

There is much buzz already with the World Premiere of Garth Davis's LION here at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival. The first screening apparently received a standing ovation and the trailer is enough to have me go through several tissues. 

The film stars Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) in the lead adult role in the real life story of Saroo Brierley who was separated from his family at four years old in rural India. Based on his book A Long Way Home, Saroo gets lost on a train which takes him thousands of kilometres across India away from his home and family. Saroo learns to survive alone in Kolkata before ultimately being adopted by an Australian couple. 

Twenty five years later Saroo who recalls a handful of childhood memories was determined to find his family. He took to technology known as Google Earth to help map his way home. He began to piece together his journey and was eventually reunited with his birth family. 

We were invited to Google Canada's special press conference to delve a little deeper into the film's theme of home, belonging and how we find it with Dev Patel, Garth Davis along side Gopal Shah, Product Manager, Google Earth and Aaron Brindle, Mapping Expert, Google Canada during TIFF. Hosted by Piya Chattopadhyay. 

 

Google Earth has been used in various ways including tracking climage change, discovering new coral reefs, and even finding landmines. In this film we follow Saroo's journey of using the technology to find home. For Saroo, the struggle was to learn about where he's from to help answer the personal question of who he is. 

Patel explained that when he received this script he thought it was so moving and was probably the only time he sat down and cried after reading it. When he auditioned for the part of adult Saroo, he felt that Davis would treat this story with delicacy and respect. "I knew he would do justice to this vast story," said Patel. "I share this part with a wonderful young actor named Sunny so I come to the story later when he's more Australian than he is Indian at that point. Trying to connect to his past and his roots is something I could relate to. Growing up I wasn't really connected to India in any way so I had all these preconcieved notions of what it was going to be like."

When Patel was there to shoot his first film Slumdog Millionaire, he tells us that he was completely blown away. "It was one of those  eye opening moments so, I could relate to that part of going there as an alien of this land even though I look like everyone else," said Patel. 

The film's central theme questions "who am I?" and takes place in two very different places that Saroo calls home. Davis explained that while researching the story, what amazed him was how Saroo remembered things. He travelled back to the village with him and he said the environment seemed so natural to him as though he had never forgotten. "The film is about emotional mapping, landscaping mapping  and it's not so much a story of trying to remember who you are or searching for something," says Davis "but it was more about being lost but he had some really great clues and memories that were very powerful to him. He actually had thoughts as a child of flying back to India and crawl into his house and whisper into his mother's ear. I felt a very spiritual connection amongst all the characters in a deep visual memory of where he came from."

Davis also explains that it was incredible for Saroo to remember details of his childhood. Since he left at five. "For a child, India is a fascinating place. There are animals and damns. They could jump on backs of buffalos,"says Davis and much different from his own upbringing and of many of ours like travelling in cars. 

Davis explained that locations played a big part in this film and helping the audience understand how all the places were connected. Even landscapes and different terrains shown on Google made a better realization of what Saroo was challenged with. 

In real life, Saroo technology availability was of it's time. It was dial up service and Google Earth was not like it is today. Davis wanted to recreate the set using the technology of what he had experienced. "The texture of the visuals at that time was more emotional for Saroo."

Gopal Shah, Product Manager of Google Earth took us on a visual journey using the technology to retrace Saroo's steps in searching for his home. Pins were placed on where Saroo and lived including his impoverished small village and the train station where he started his accidental separation from his family 16 miles away. Then eventually travelling 10,000 miles to his adopted home in Australia and coming full circle to his village. What was fascinating was how Saroo was able to finally connect landmarks to  pinpoint the one of hundreds of similar looking train stations nearest to his family home 25 years later.

And as for how much of a techy is actor Dev Patel? Not so much he admits. He explains that he has a hard time with a coffee machine. But in between accent training he also was taught how to use Google every week. "It's so integral to the story but you know, for me, being a British-Asian actor you kinda get these tech-centric roles...but you gather the information and run to someone more important." says Patel. "But for this, it was his therapy. He was trolling through his past and unearthing ghosts from his past. He's discovering himself and it was therapy for me. It was so emotional for me. Using the app function and learning how close he was getting to his mother, you could feel the emotions."

Definitely worth keeping an eye on this film. TIFF has added two more screenings of LION starring Dev Patel, Rooney Mara and Nicole Kidman during the Film Festival but we're certain it will be coming to theatres soon.

You may also be interested in learning more about Google Earth Outreach that gives non-profits organizations the resources needed to help visualize their stories. Currently Google Canada's Aaron is working on a project in the Arctic to help communities map out their situations. The Jane Goodall Institute uses Google Earth and Open Data Kit for their REDD+ forest monitory projects in Tanzania and Uganda. Cheif Almir Surui now uses Google Earth instead of bows and arrows to help protect their land. His tribe had their first contact with outsiders just fifty years ago.