DVD: Lion

Lion brings to the big screen, the remarkable story of Saroo Brierley who was lost at age five, adopted by an Australian couple and who as an adult eventually located his family in India. This beautiful film, directed by Garth Davis, tells the story of Saroo's efforts to find his long-lost family.

In 1987, Saroo whose real name was Sheru Munshi Khan, was allowed to accompany his fourteen year old brother Guddu to beg for food. Sheru lived in Ganesh Tali with his mother and his brothers and sisters. Their father had abandoned the family and they were very poor, so the boys often begged for food.

On that fateful day, Guddu and Saroo took the train from Khandwa station to Burhanpur. While Guddu went to look for food, Saroo slept on a bench. When he woke up, Guddu was no where to be found. Thinking he was on the train waiting in the station, Saroo boarded. However, the train was not in service and Saroo ended up travelling over 1500 miles to Calcutta. Lost, confused, and unable to speak the local dialect of Bengali, (Saroo spoke Hindi) he spent weeks on the streets before being taken to the Nava Jeevan orphanage by an older boy. The orphanage was run by Saroj Sood. Eventually, Saroo was adopted by a couple, John and Sue Brierley from Tasmania, Australia.

In Australia, Saroo quickly settles into his new life. He is raised in the Brierley's loving home with another Indian orphan, Manosh. However, Saroo never forgot his brother nor his mother. In the movie, which is based on the book, A Long Way Home written by Saroo Brierley, when a now grown Saroo is in Melbourne studying hotel management, an Indian dinner with friends forces him to confront his past. He admits he was adopted and explains to his friends, including his girlfriend Lucy, what happened to him as a young child. They suggest that he try this new feature called Google Earth to try to locate his village.

Sunny Pawar as young Saroo

At first Saroo is dismissive of this suggestion but he soon begins his search. His time searching causes him great inner turmoil as he struggles to cope with the knowledge that his mother and his brother may still be searching for him and likely thinking of him each and every day. Using Google Earth and social media, Saroo is able to locate his village but will his family still be there? Saroo travels to India and is reunited with his family after twenty-five long years.

In Lion, a young Saroo is portrayed by Sunny Pawar, Abhishek Bharate is his older brother Guddu and Dev Patel is cast as the adult Saroo Brierley. Nicole Kidman and David Wenham of Faramir fame from Lord of the Rings play Saroo's adoptive parents. Pawar is captivating in his performance, endearing himself to viewers as we watch this small, innocent boy struggle through his fears and loneliness to survive on the streets of Calcutta. To better portray the reality of young Saroo's situation, the movie contains many scenes, shot overheard, showing the little boy in the contrasting, sweeping vistas that exist in India, and among crowded streets and dirty slums.

The second half of the movie is devoted to a grown-up Saroo's struggle to locate his family in India, based only on the vivid memories he retains from his childhood. His search begins using the satellite images on Google Earth and over a period of months he finally locates what he believes might be his family's village. Saroo could remember only that the nearest railway station began with the letter B and when he found Burhanpur station he begins to recognize features on the satellite images. Davis does a great job of showing us the images Saroo would have viewed and the map he created as he worked his way through eliminating possible villages. These are juxtaposed with images Saroo remembers from his memories of what happened. His reunion with his mother is tender and emotional; Dev Patel and Priyanka Bose who portrays Kamla Munshi, probably capture only the barest essence of what this truly must have felt like.

Saroo with his family in India.

Davis says that he sees his film as having two parts; the first part portrays the outside journey Saroo experiences as he travels across India alone in a the train, then in search of his brother and his family and finally to Australia, the second part of the film portrays the inner journey of Saroo as he struggles to understand his past and find his family. Saroo has stated that he does not see himself as having two identities, but instead as having two families: one in India and one in Australia.

If you haven't seen Lion, go see it. It's a wonderfully realistic portrayal of one man's journey back home that feels authentic and honest.

DVD: The Light Between Oceans

The Light Between Oceans tells the tragic (fictional) story of a young couple living on Janus Rock, an island off the coast of Western Australia who find a baby in a rowboat washed near the beach and decide to keep the baby with catastrophic repercussions.

Tom Shelbourne has returned from serving in World War I, a shell-shocked survivor. Seeking a place of refuge and quiet, he accepts a temporary six-month contract as a lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, a remote windswept island off the coast of Western Australia. Before beginning his stint as lightkeeper Tom travels to the town of Partaguese where he has dinner with Violet and Bill Graysmark and also meets their young daughter, Isabel. Bill reveals the lightkeeper on Janus Rock is suffering from some kind of mental breakdown due to the extreme isolation. Nevertheless, Tom begins his stay on Janus Rock, tending the light and working to maintain the lighthouse and its buildings.

It turns out the sick lightkeeper for Janus Rock cannot return and Tom is offered a three year job as the lightkeeper. He and Isabel begin a quick relationship initiated by Isabel and they marry. Tom and Isabel settle into life on Janus Rock and soon she is expecting a baby. However, she miscarries one night during a terrible storm and is understandably devastated. A year later Isabel once again becomes pregnant, but although she carries the baby much longer, she miscarries that baby too. Shortly after this miscarriage, Tom spots a rowboat in the water just offshore of the lighthouse. In the boat they find a dead man and a crying, very hungry baby.

After warming and feeding the baby, Isabel is supremely happy. Tom tells her that this must go in his log and he needs to contact the mainland to let them know. Isabel begs for him to wait until morning which he reluctantly agrees to do. In the morning Isabel argues that the baby is safe and that no one need know and that this is best for the baby who will most certainly be sent to an orphanage. This baby is the answer to their prayers. Against his conscience and better judgement, Tom agrees to omit the events from the logbook and buries the dead man on Janus Rock. He sends a message to the mainland stating that Isabel has given birth ahead of schedule and that the baby is a girl. There is much celebrating and the supply boat returns with baby supplies and food.

However, things begin to go awry when Isabel and Tom take the baby, whom they have named Lucy,  to the mainland for her christening. While waiting for the vicar to arrive, Tom notices a woman grieving by a tombstone.  After she leaves, he walks to the tombstone where he is stunned to see that it bears the names of two people lost at sea on April 26, 1923, the day they found Lucy. Those people are a man named Frank Roennfeldt and his baby daughter, Grace Roennfeldt. Tom realizes that he now knows the Lucy's true identity but more importantly that she has a mother who is suffering deeply. Tom is troubled and preoccupied during the christening and afterwards approaches Isabel to tell her what he has learned. He insists that they now must return Lucy to her mother, but Isabel refuses. She insists that they must do what is right for Lucy who is safe with them. In an attempt to assuage his conscience and comfort Lucy/Grace's mother, Tom sends her an anonymous note telling her Grace is safe and that her husband is in the arms of God. Hannah Roennfeldt takes the note to the local police but they tell her it's not enough to go on at this point.

A few years pass and life for Tom, Isabel and Lucy continues happily on Janus Rock. Until one day during a special event recognizing the service of the lighthouse on the island, Tom witnesses Isabel and Lucy talking unknowingly with Lucy's real mother. This sets in motion a chain of events that unravels the false life Tom and Isabel have built.

Discussion

The Light Between Oceans is a emotional, heartbreaking film that is slow off the mark but gradually draws viewers in. The film takes its time setting the atmosphere and the background for the events to come. After searching for months, the film crew chose the 72ft tall Cape Campbell lighthouse located Cook Strait in New Zealand's South Island as the setting for Janus Rock. Cape Campbell lighthouse allowed cinematographer Adam Arkapaw to recreate the windswept isolation that no doubt played a significant part in Isabel Shelbourne's desperate actions. Unfortunately, while the cinematography of the untamed power of sea and wind are gorgeous, the pacing of the film suffers.

Tom and Isabel Shelbourne are played by Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander who are a couple in real life. The couple definitely has an on-screen rapport that makes their quick marriage believable. Tom Shelbourne's withdrawn nature and propensity to destructive self-sacrifice is well captured by Fassbender. Rachel Weiz was cast as the stoic but caring Hannah Roennfeldt. All give solid performances.

The film is filled with many heartbreaking moments, including Isabel enduring two miscarriages, little Lucy being torn from the person she loves very much and who she believes is her mother, and the struggles of Hannah Roennfeldt to build a relationship with her long lost daughter, Grace. Equally heartbreaking is the conflict that develops between Tom and Isabel whom he loves very much. Tom's guilt over surviving the war results in his misguided attempts to protect the wife he feels he never deserved to have and to love.

Despite all of the tragedy the film ends on a hopeful tone, with a message of forgiveness. When Tom and Isabel face years of imprisonment for their actions, it is Hannah who redeems them. Remembering her beloved husband Frank who decided to forgive those who harboured antagonism towards him because of his German nationality, Hannah forgives Tom and Isabel, by speaking for them. She recognizes that they did save Grace and she remembers what Frank once told her, "You only have to forgive once. To resent you have to do it all day, every day."  And maybe in the end, that's the most important message of this film.

When We Wake by Karen Healey

Sixteen year old Tegan Oglietti wakes up one hundred years into her future. She discovers she has been frozen for all that time. It had been 2027 and she along with her new boyfriend, Dalmar, and her best friend Alex, had been on their way to a protest. Tegan did not survive the protest. She was mistakenly shot by a sniper intent upon attacking the Prime Minister and died. But because she had signed her body over to science upon death, she was taken to an experimental cryonics unit run by Dr. Tessa Kalin. There she was injected with a solution derived from tardigrades, which are segmented micro-animals that can survive under extreme conditions (from extreme cold to very high temperatures) and then frozen. Dr. Kalin and her team did not know how to reverse the cryonics procedure in 2027 and Tegan was kept frozen until a future time when scientists would have developed that ability. That time has now arrived in the year 2128, under the direction of Dr. Marie Carmen, who is working in conjunction with the Australian military.

Tegan's first reaction is to flee. In her previous life, Tegan was involved in parkour and so she uses that skill to try to escape the building she is being kept in. She ends up at a talk in progress by Dr. Carmen who rescues her and takes her back to the research compound. When Tegan realizes that she is not going to be allowed to leave, she goes on a hunger strike for five days. Eventually Dr. Carmen (Marie) and Colonel Trevor Dawson who is in charge of the program agree to allow Tegan to attend school and live on the outside with Dr. Carmen. They arrange for Tegan to attend the Elizabeth Murdoch Academy and after she is accosted by a journalist,  to have two body guards, Master Sergeant Gregor Petrov and Sergeant Zaniesha Washington.

To help her assimilate into school, a fellow student, Bethari Miyahputri, is assigned to Tegan. Her first day at school sees Tegan meet a fellow "immigrant" to Australia, Abdi Taalib, who is in the country on a "Talented Alien visa". Abdi is a "Thirdie", someone who is from a Third World country. After a brief misunderstanding, when Tegan attends music class, Abdi breaks his silence and sings with her as she plays guitar.

When an Inheritor of the Earth protester confronts Tegan in a Catholic church where she has stopped to say some prayers, he tells her that she is being used by the military and asks her to research "Ark Pro...". The protester is killed by Tegan's bodyguard before he can finish but Tegan decides that she needs to know more about this future society and who the protesters are.

Certain that her own computer is not secure, Tegan uses Bethari's computer to research life in the 22nd century and to find out what the Inheritor was trying to tell her. She discovers that there is some kind of top secret military project called Ark Project and is given a list of addresses, one of which is in Victoria and close to the army base. Tegan sets up a "sleepover" with Bethari and Joph, who is a classmate at Elizabeth Murdoch Academy. While Bethari and Tegan check out the location near the army base, Joph stays at Bethari's house to help them avoid detection. Tegan and Bethari discover that the abandoned warehouse is a cover for some kind of top secret military operation but are unable to discover exactly what that is.

Meanwhile Dawson sets up an interview with journalist Carl Hurfest to try to get some positive press for Tegan who has been labeled the "Living Dead Girl". However, the interview goes badly when Tegan criticizes the Australian government over its treatment of immigrants and not being willing to share its resources with "thirdies"  as people from the Third World are known. This PR disaster causes Dawson to order her to be handcuffed and taken back to the concrete army bunker. But Dr. Cameron intervenes, knocking Dawson unconscious and helping Tegan to escape.

Tegan meets up with Bethari, Abdi, and Joph. They decide that they need to find the truth about the mysterious warehouse. But what Tegan uncovers changes everything and reveals the truth about her existence and the life she is leading in the 22nd century.

Discussion  

In When We Wake, author Karen Healey has crafted a sort of science fiction version of the Sleeping Beauty fairytale. However, instead of a helpless young woman who is rescued by a dashing knight as we've come to know through Disney, there is a heroine who is both capable and strong. Revived after 100 years, Tegan is determined to forge her own life in a world that is very different from the one she lived in a century ago and yet has many of the same problems. To accomplish this, she stands up for herself from the very beginning, taking on Colonel Dawson so that she can start her second life essentially where she left off. But it turns out that the motives behind Tegan's revival are more sinister than she ever imagined.

Religious themes permeate this novel. Healey asks her readers to consider the question of what happens after the body dies because this is a question that 22nd century society is now struggling with after the revival of Tegan. The heroine of the novel, Tegan is a Roman Catholic - though not a particularly well-informed one. There's mention of a Fourth Vatican Council which reformed  women's equality, likely a euphemism for women priests. Tegan prays to the Blessed Virgin Mary, but mostly she seems to have a superficial understanding of her faith and certainly no theological understanding of the deeper questions that her revival brings about. And that's fine - she is after all a sixteen year old girl struggling to come to terms with what has happened with her.

The author asks readers to consider the question of whether or not a human being having been declared dead, subsequently frozen and then revived a century later has a soul. It is integral to her story because those against the research being done, the cult known as the Inheritors of the Earth, consider cryronics - the freezing of dead people, a moral abomination and an affront to the will of God. They believe Tegan does not have a soul but is only a body, a shell of what she was. They therefore believe she should end her life and return to God. When captured and confronted by the leader of the cult, a bizarre man who calls himself  "The Father", Tegan doesn't have an answer which is also understandable, although if her inner life is like it was before she died, it's likely she has a soul. 

From a Catholic perspective, metaphysically what has happened to Tegan is probably impossible, although there are precedents in scripture; Lazarus was brought back to life after three days in the tomb, and the apostles were also given the power to raise people from the dead. But miracles aside, Catholics believe that all persons upon death, will face an immediate judgement by God - called the Particular Judgement. When the physical body is dead, the soul separates from the body and goes before God. Once judged, the soul either goes to heaven, hell, or to purgatory for purification. A soul cannot return to its body after judgement unless by the will of God.

Despite the metaphysical impossibility that this story is based on, it was interesting to see what Healey would do with the unique storyline she has created for this novel. Unfortunately, the reason behind Tegan's revival is not unique (humanity wants to flee the planet) and nor is the constant message throughout the book about widespread ecological disaster that has befallen most of the planet and fundamentalist war in America. It all felt somewhat unimaginative and playing to current fears common in the media.  However, there is the blossoming romance between Tegan and Abdi, as well as the conflict between Tegan and the agency that revived her.

Tegan's story is told as a narrative video which she broadcasts to make her story and the government conspiracy known to the world at large. The ending is the perfect setup for the next installment in this series.

Book Details:
When We Wake by Karen Healey
New York: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers 2013
304 pp.

Bookmark Days by Scot Gardner

"There was only one way to communicate with a Carrington and that was with fire in your eyes and broken glass in your words." So thinks Avril Stanton until the day she meets Nathaniel Carrington!  Avril lives with her family on a sheep farm in an extremely rural area of Australia. She does her schooling by correspondence as the nearest school is 165 km away. Avril rides her horse whenever she wants and loves to read.

Avril also has learned to hate the Carringtons who live a mere fifteen kilometers away. No one knows just when the feud between the two families began, except that it started sometime after the war in which Hoppy Stanton and Les Carrington Sr. served together.

Avril meets Nathaniel Carrington when she and her grandfather go out to check on some sheep that have supposedly strayed into the Carrington's canola fields. Instead they find that their fence has been damaged by the Carrington's and they set out to mend it. Nathaniel arrives on a quad bike, apologizing because he was the one who damaged the fence. 

When he offers to mend the fence, he gets the royal brush off from Avril's grandfather, who is intent upon throwing more fuel onto the fire of the feud. Avril however, sees that Nathaniel is polite and sorry for what has happened. And she also finds herself instantly attracted to this handsome neighbour, with the tousled blond hair and the cap. Avril feels like Juliet when she first saw Romeo and this confuses her because she's been taught the Carrington's are bad people. Nathaniel doesn't look evil. He's handsome. It is a bookmark day. "It's called a paradigm shift....and I had one that day. It was the biggest one in my life and it left me reeling. It was a whole mix of things that messed me up, like seeing my grandfather adding fuel to a fire that he'd always said blew in from the other side of the fence. Seeing a boy I'd been taught to hate and feeling the way Juliet probably did when she first saw Romeo."

Avril's cousin Katie and her Aunt Jacq arrive for a visit. Katie overwhelms Avril with her constant talking and bragging about her many boyfriends. Avril feels that she doesn't have the social confidence her cousin has but she soon comes to realize that Katie's approach to life is very different from hers.

Avril and her family take their visiting relatives to the Forsyth Agricultural Show in Mildura. This day also turns out to be a "bookmark day", a day that changes Avril's life in ways she never dreamt. Avril meets Nathaniel at the Show, but she is too shy to talk to him. However, later on they find each other again and have a blast dancing to a band. Avril realizes that she is falling for a boy she shouldn't like - a boy from the family her own family has had a feud with for two generations. A feud she doesn't know the cause of and doesn't understand. At the Agricultural Show, Avril makes an astonishing discovery regarding her grandmother.

Shortly after Nathaniel leaves the Agricultural Show with his father, there is a violent thunderstorm and a lightning strike at the bandstand. In the chaos of the storm, Avril searches for Katie so they can go home. After getting her hungover cousin into their truck, Avril and her father come across the Carrington's ute which has overturned. Les Junior is badly injured but to Avril's relief,  Nathaniel is only bruised. The Stanton's help the Carringtons, despite the elder Carrington, Les Senior's violent response towards their presence at the accident scene.

Avril begins to understand that the feud between the older men of both families doesn't really seem to exist between her parents and Nathaniels parents nor between herself and Nathaniel. She doesn't understand the deep hatred the two men have for each other because it doesn't seem to exist in the younger generations of either family. Avril reaches out to the Carringtons, not only because they are in a tight spot with Nathaniel's father injured but also because she wants to be able to see Nathaniel again. Although she and Nathaniel attempt to keep their blossoming love a secret, it is soon common knowledge in both families. When the two devise a plan to meet one another, a crisis develops. Will Avril be able to take a stand for what she believes in and also for a future with Nathaniel?

Discussion

Bookmark Days is a twist on the Romeo and Juliet theme set in the Australian outback. Two feuding families, and a young couple in love, secret meetings and co-conspirators like those in Romeo and Juliet can be found in this short novel. Avril Stanton is a likeable character who stays true to herself. She has little of her cousin Katie's "talent" for make-up, dress, and flirting with boys but she does come to recognize that she has abilities that her cousin doesn't have. In this way, she doesn't try to copy her cousin and at one point is thoroughly disgusted with Katie's behaviour. Instead she forges her own path. Her strength of character not only helps her and Nathaniel but also both of their families.

Bookmark Days is a sweet story about a girl's first love. Avril's uncertainty and awakening to love is tender and endearing in contrast to Katie's more cynical approach. This short novel is well written and is a great choice for reluctant readers. The unique Australian setting adds another layer of interest. The themes of identity and love make this a book young readers can relate to. Scot Gardner has definitely succeeded in writing a wonderful romantic novel.

Book Details:
Bookmark Days by Scot Gardner.
Crows Nest: Australia       Allen & Unwin   2009
170 pp.

DVD Movie: Oranges and Sunshine 2010

In 1986, Margaret Humphreys was a child protection officer working in Nottingham, England. Incredibly, she stumbled upon one of the most astonishing and horrendous secrets safeguarded by the British government for over eighty years. In the movie which is based her book, Empty Cradle, one day after work Margaret is approached by a woman by the name of Charlotte, asking her to help her locate her family. Charlotte had been visiting from Australia where she lives and she tells Margaret that all she knows is that she, along with a large group of children, were sent over by ship in the 1940s and 50s to Australia. Charlotte was four years old at the time. She was told her mother had died and she was unsure of her true name and her birth date.

At first Margaret is reluctant to get involved until one day in her post-adoption group therapy session, one of the attendees, Nikki, tells the group that out of the blue she got a letter from someone claiming to be her brother Jack and that he lived in Australia. Nikki cannot understand how this can be. As she tells the group more, Margaret realizes that this must be more than a coincidence and she decides that she must look into what is going on.

Margaret researches Charlottes birth certificate and manages to track down her mother, reuniting the two women. When she meets Charlottes mother, Margaret learns that she had been told her daughter was adopted out to a family.  She never knew her daughter had been sent to Australia. And she had always hoped to get her daughter back, not see her adopted out.

Margaret eventually meets Nikki's brother Jack, who seems devastated over what happened to him. In an attempt to learn more about the children, Margaret flies to Australia on her own time and using her own funds to determine how many other children have had a similar experience and to try to understand the scope of what happened.

Eventually Margaret and her husband, Mervyn uncover a migration scheme so widespread that there is no way the British government could not have known about it.They discover that these "forced migrations" began as early as 1900 and lasted until 1970. During that period of time there were "waves" of forced migrations and there were so many children involved that upper levels of government would have had to have given permission, including the Home Secretary. All of the children were in care and it was evident that these children were systematically deported. These schemes were run by charities and churches, among them, the Christian brothers.

Margaret, through her visits with children who were forcibly sent to Australia, learns that many suffered abuse, both emotional, physical and sometimes sexual, and worked as virtual slaves. Some received little educating and were basically indentured slaves. All this despite being told they were going to a warm country where there was plenty of sunshine and they could pick oranges off the trees.

Margaret attempts to get the organizations involved in the migrations to accept responsibility and acknowledge that they did a great wrong to these adult children and their families. It took 23 years before the British and Australian government finally issued an apology for the child migration schemes. More than 130,000 children had been deported. Margaret, with the help of her husband, continue their work today of helping reunite children with their families.

Discussion

Oranges and Sunshine deals with this difficult subject in a forthright way but one that also demonstrates how the forced child migration affected the children, their mothers and how it continues to affect them to this day. Emily Watson does a stellar job portraying Margaret Humphreys in a performance filled with intelligence, gentleness and subdued passion. She is never deterred from her mission of finding these "lost children" even when her personal safety is at stake. Eventually the stress of dealing with so many people who have been hurt takes its toll on Margaret and she is diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. She tries to keep her distance and set personal boundaries but the breadth and depth of the tragedy is so overwhelming that she is unable to accomplish this. Watson conveys this with such utter realism that we forget we are watching a movie.

The effect of her work is especially well portrayed in the scenes with Len (David Wenham) near the end of the movie. Len is a man who has been deeply affected by his experiences; by his own admission he stopped crying at the age of eight. Wealthy enough to afford a private detective to find his mother, he is at first doubtful of Margaret's intentions and her ability. Yet after finding his mother for him, Margaret is challenged by Len to go to Boys Town at Bindoon to see what he and other child migrants experienced. She doesn't want to but in the end she agrees. Bindoon is in the middle of nowhere, and as Margaret and Len look down from afar at Boys Town, we see a colossal structure built by child migrants who were at the mercy of the Christian Brothers and who suffered some of the worst abuse. The cinematography effectively captures the isolation and the fear these children must have felt as they saw themselves being driven far from any town or village.

When Margaret sees this place she is terribly shattered because she feels that what she is doing is not enough. But Len tells her, "You feel it for all of us because we can't...You're in there for us. You're fighting for us. So let the rest go. Just let it go."

Oranges and Sunshine is based on the book, Empty Cradles by Margaret Humphreys. The film was produced by Emile Sherman and Camilla Bray who also produced The King's Speech. The Oranges and Sunshine website (orangesandshunshine.com.au ) has more information on the making of the film and the actors involved.