Commentary: Two of this year’s most powerful movies tell the stories of real people whose courage was shaped by technology.
A small boy falls asleep on a railway platform while he’s waiting for his brother. When he wakes, he climbs onto a train that rumbles to life and carries him into the unknown. Twenty years later, thousands of miles away, he searches for his lost home — on Google Earth.
“Lion”, which opened in the US over Thanksgiving weekend, tells that boy’s heart-wrenching true-life story. I saw “Lion” a couple of days after seeing another film that depicts a real-life story of personal courage in extreme circumstances, shaped by technology.
That film was “Snowden“.
“Lion” is a simple tale. As chronicled in Saroo Brierley’s memoir, “A Long Way Home”, it’s perhaps the simplest and yet most emotional story there is: the story of a lost child. Garth Davis’ film adaptation unfolds at a slow pace, but emotionally charged performances from Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman and Sunny Pawar (as the young Saroo) build the story to a heart-wrenching conclusion.
Source: ‘Lion’ and ‘Snowden’: Two real-life tales of courage (and tech) – CNET
