Review: Slumdog Millionaire by Andrew James November 6th, 2008 Directors: Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, Sunshine), Loveleen Tandan Writer: Simon Beaufoy Producer: Christian Colson Starring: Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, Madhur Mittal, Freida Pinto MPAA Rating: R Running time: 120 min ________________________________ Finally Danny Boyle has managed to make a film that doesn’t fall completely apart in the final act. Not only does it not fall apart, it builds to an emotional crescendo with much at stake for our protagonists: love, money, freedom and pride. While that may sound a little cheesy, I can assure that there hasn’t been a love story written for the screen that works this well for both genders in quite some time. Jamal and his brother Salim have been alone; living on the streets of the Mumbai slums since they were kids. Stealing and working the system as best they could just to survive. Flash forward 20 years and Jamal is about to make history on India’s version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” Answering every question correctly so far and getting further than anyone has ever gotten, Jamal will soon be asked the final question to win his millions. But on the night before the final show, Jamal is kidnapped and brought into an interrogation room where he is tortured into explaining how it is that an uneducated kid from the streets knows all of these answers. He has to be cheating right? He then goes on to explain to these menacing officers that each answer was known because each one coincidentally related to a life experience he had growing up on the streets.
The structure of the film might be what is most fascinating here. Basically we’re just getting Jamal’s life story told by means of a number of vignettes structured around a series of game show questions. The plot is surprisingly deeper than that though and follows an overall story arc which is all designed to culminate in quite an exciting climax. That isn’t to say the smaller, split up bits of the story are not deep or interesting or intense or emotional or thoughtful. Indeed each one includes all of these ingredients. Shot entirely on location in India, the locales are exotic and beautiful; while at the same time managing to be depressing and dirty. Boyle is able to show us the world we want to be in, but kept grounded in the life of a child vagabond. Using only hand-held camera techniques with a touch of grain to the film stock, Boyle really gives us that gritty feel of living on the streets. With pullback, perspective shots and chase scenes through the crowded streets and back alleys of Mumbai, one cannot help but be reminded of Fernando Meirelles’ City of God and wonder if Boyle himself is a fan. All of the acting is pulled of tremendously well and each actor throughout delivers amazingly well. Considering I’ve never seen any one of them in anything else, aside from the police interrogator, this is quite a treat and helps add to the realism of everything on screen. Particularly the lead, Dev Patel, who brings a “less is more” approach to the character and pulls it off brilliantly. In his feature film debut, I very much look forward to seeing more of him soon. While I’m not walking away being completely blown away, this is still in the top tier of films for 2008 and has very few (if any) elements worth complaining about. It’s simply a great story told in a unique way by a skilled director and cast. Certainly a film worth revisiting time and again when you’re in need of a little bit of courage or inspiration… or just a good time with cinema. http://www.rowthree.com/2008/11/06/review-slumdog-millionaire/
