We held our third International Film Club this year by showing ‘Lion’ by Garth Davis. It was a chance for us to understand that we although we may have connections to other parts of the world, we are also all Australian. Here are a couple of reflections on the film by two of our attendees:

‘Lion’ (Review) by Kate Macklin

“In the realm of spirit animals, the lion wins the prize for most relentless fighter in the face of life challenges. The lion spirit animal represents courage, strength in overcoming difficulties.” (1)

WOW, what a movie…emotional, heartbreaking, inspiring, motivational, thought-provoking, I could keep going. The word “Lion” is so appropriate to this film, we watch him as a young boy find and develop courage and strength to overcome the challenges he faces, then we watch him use these same qualities into his adult life to find his birth-mum and family.

To say that something can have such an enormous effect on you and change your views is exactly what this movie did to me. We all know that there are many countries, cities, towns, villages and communities around that world that struggle for what many would say are the basic necessities for life: clean running water, fresh produce, a hearty meal, a comfortable bed, warmth in the cold, a loving family but too easily we forget that there are many that don’t have one of these let alone all of them.

As a woman I always knew I was going to be a mum, if I wasn’t able to have my own it was always a plan for me to adopt or foster, therefore viewing a movie like this not only inspires me to do everything within my abilities to help anyone, especially a child, but to know that it can truly make a difference in someone’s life. As an aide working in a school environment I get the opportunity to see first-hand the importance of acceptance with everyone. Generations of today truly have the privilege of learning from a young age to not judge anyone by their culture, race, religion, physical ability or anything else that may make you different to the person sitting next to you, and in return, society as a majority knows and understands how important it is to help others in any way they can. I not only see this everyday but have also experienced first hand the true beauty of kindness and acceptance and how everyone is valued equally. It is a value that is demonstrated, nurtured and encouraged.

The only thing that I found to question my thoughts were that, there is no denying that the young boy in ‘Lion’ was loved and supported and had opportunities to do and be whoever he wanted, but at the same time was sheltered from his birth culture. It wasn’t till he attended university that he experienced the culture through people he met. So as a result when he did travel back to India and found his mum and sister he was for the first time learning and seeing his culture. Don’t get me wrong this is not a negative towards the loving couple who adopted him, they loved him like he was their own, and the film also certainly demonstrated that its not always the case, and there are a lot of factors that can help a situation like this succeed or fail. Like all things in life there are so many factors contributing but there is always always the possibility of success beyond your wildest dreams. All you need is courage and strength to overcome difficulties. Embrace your own lion within.
(1) www.spiritanimal.info

 

‘Lion’ (Review) by Jackie Rhodes

I enjoyed the movie and there were quite a few things that stood out to me and made me think . However, the main thing which I thought about later was the fact that in the movie we saw children and some adults sleeping rough on flattened cardboard boxes, scavenging for food and in some cases violated/exploited on the streets of India. Twenty five years on this has not changed, in fact, it has become much much worse to the extent of murder, prostitution etc and this is globally. I am thankful that through education and working in unity that this generation and future generations will be able to if not eradicate these global problems  at least find ways to reduce some of the suffering we are seeing around the world.