Slumdog Millionaire

This was a movie I went to see due to it being a hot tip for the Oscar's, and as a film fan I like to have a view on what is in the running at the biggest awards show of the year. In truth I wasn't interested in the film, it didn't excite me from the trailers, the story sounded dull, and it didn't star anyone I'd ever heard of, plus to top it off it involved that game show 'Who wants to be a Millionaire ?' which I can't stand.

So I sat down in my seat with a headache to boot, to watch a movie I was not interested in, as the lights lowered I thought "great, it had to be a 2 hour movie as well."

The story is pretty much a love story at it's center, idealistic and pure, but this being a Danny Boyle movie you can be assured it takes some subversive twists and turns as it makes it's way to the conclusion.
Jamal Malik is the main character, played by Dev Patel in his first feature role. Jamal is a decent human being who has lived his whole life in inhuman conditions, from the slums of mumbai with his older brother Salim, he has begged and conned his way through life after their mother was brutally killed when they were kids. The love of his life is Latika played by beautiful newcomer Freida Pinto, and the film is the journey of these 3 characters and the reason why Jamal has found his way onto 'Who wants to be a Millionaire ?'.

The key to the films success is the way the story is told, the structure Boyle uses of jumping from Jamal's childhood, to being on the show, to his questioning by a detective after he is accused of cheating, is initially disorientating, especially when mixed in with the thumping music and erratic camera work of the early slum sequences.
However as the movie progresses it becomes it's strongest suit, as each event from his past reveals how he knew the answers to the questions and fills in a little more of the story between the 3 leads.

Now in truth the story between Latika and Jamal is not really fleshed out well and it's very much a fairytale romance, but it works well enough presented in the fashion it is, as both really are clinging onto each other in horrific circumstances, the real meat though is the relationship between Jamal and his brother Salim, the films most powerful and at times shocking moments come between the 2 at the 3 different stages of their lives.

From a technical standpoint Boyle's direction is crisp and energetic, his shot selection always full of life and nothing ever falls into the dreary "point and shoot" category, he uses the cinematography to stunning effect, framing and shooting the despair of the slums with a savage beauty, in particular all the footage shot around the train sequence has a  magical quality.

His greatest achievement though is the performances he has gotten out of his young actors, granted there are no Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver level performances here, but all are solid and bring enough to their roles to make you invest emotionally in what happens to them

Slumdog Millionaire is a warm but at times harsh film, that has heart but never slides into mush despite it's somewhat fairytale central story, Boyle proves himself a great storyteller by crafting this simple coming of age/love story premise into a captivating and hopeful drama.

Oh, and stick around for the end credits. ;)


9/10