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Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman star in this 2016 biographical drama about Saroo Brierley, who, 25 years after being separated from his family in India, uses Google Earth to find his birth mother. What is this film called?

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Lion - movies illustration
Lion — movies

The film described is "Lion," a powerful biographical drama released in 2016. It tells the incredible true story of Saroo Brierley, who, as a five-year-old boy in India, accidentally became separated from his family. He ended up on a train that took him thousands of miles away to Kolkata, where he survived alone on the streets before being placed in an orphanage and eventually adopted by an Australian couple, Sue and John Brierley.

Dev Patel stars as the adult Saroo, while Nicole Kidman portrays his adoptive mother, Sue Brierley. After 25 years, Saroo, haunted by fragmented memories of his past, embarks on a determined search for his birth family. His remarkable journey involved using the then-relatively new technology of Google Earth, meticulously scanning satellite images to try and identify landmarks from his childhood in an effort to pinpoint his original village.

The film is based on Saroo Brierley's 2013 non-fiction book, "A Long Way Home." "Lion" garnered significant critical acclaim, including six Academy Award nominations, among them Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor for Dev Patel, and Best Supporting Actress for Nicole Kidman. The title "Lion" is a reference to Saroo's birth name, Sheru, which means "lion" in Hindi.