Australian-born director Benjamin Gilmour set himself a mighty task. Travelling through Pakistan's wild North West frontier, he heard the story of a boy who wanted an education rather than to help his father test hand guns. Gilmour learned the Pashtu language and, over an eight-month period, developed his script, Son of a Lion.

Sher (Sher Alam Miskeen Ustad) lives in a poor region of North Pakistan, which is home to an industry that manufactures weapons, mostly for Afghanistan. A stern patriarch, he expects his eleven-year-old son Niaz (Niaz Shinwari) to work alongside him, and is not tolerant of his desire to go to school. An Islamic religious school ("American's think they are breeding grounds for terrorists") is out of the question. Niaz' city-living uncle thinks otherwise, and so begins a process to change Sher's potentially sympathetic mind.

Son of a Lion is a significant achievement. Filmed on location with non-professional actors, it's a sturdy document of the region and its culture. An insight into the area's day-to-day life and regional politics is reflected through the waking eyes of a sensitive youngster, and it's intriguing, disturbing, and certainly enlightening. Not so sure-footed is Gilmour's handling of narrative. Loose at best, Son of a Lion meanders toward its destination without much sense of purpose. The plotting is choppy, with sudden lurches that are not always driven from within the story. When saddled to leaden camera work and an underwhelming transfer to 35mm, Gilmour's film doesn't grasp your heart nearly as hard as it should. None the less, Son of a Lion is a winningly credible feature that explores the conflict of children and gun-culture in the Middle East, while also offering a genuinely poignant drama between father and son.