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Slumdog Millionaire
(2008)
In life, some things are learned in a classroom, others are learned on the streets, and generally the two are mutually exclusive. But sometimes, they overlap, and when they do it's magical. Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire examines the accumulation of knowledge through the life of one boy in the slums of Mumbai, India and shows that when destiny is at work, life can bring you true happiness. At its heart, this is a love story and the combination of every element of the film converges to produce an inexplicably wonderful film—the closest thing to a perfect movie I've seen in a long time.
From childhood, orphaned Jamal (Dev Patel) struggled to survive on the harsh streets of Mumbai, relying on his brother Salim (Manhur Mittal) to eke out a living. When, as an adult, he finds the opportunity to appear on the Hindi version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire, he takes the chance in order to win the heart of his lifelong love Latika (Freida Pinto) with no interest in money. Drawing upon his life of unique and fragmented experiences, the uneducated young man makes his way to the penultimate question before being accused of cheating and interogated by the police (Irrfan Khan). But by the end of the film, it's not about whether Jamal wins the grand prize, Slumdog Millionaire is about the dreams of an entire nation and the universal power of love.
Boyle's typical extreme angles, frenetic camera movements and fast editing capture the vivacity of the city of Mumbai and inject the film with a sense of life that is truly rare in cinema.
Boyle has always had an uncanny knack for adding just the right music to any given scene and the vibrant Indian-influenced techno used in Slumdog works as well as or better than any other film in his repertoire. When these technical elements are combined with a je ne sais quoi that had me welling up with emotion (sometimes even tears) throughout the film the result is a powerhouse of a motion picture, and one which doesn't rely on tragedy to garner an emotional response from the audience. This film is life, and there's nothing more beautiful than that.
As Jamal recounts the events in his life which gave him the specific answers to seemingly random questions, the film quickly saturates itself with a sense of destiny that grows until the viewer can't help but feel fate's power giving him goosebumps. The narrative elements of the movie crescendo as well, such that the final question on the game show holds with it so much dramatic tension that one feels almost as if they, sitting in their comfortable theatre seat or living room couch, are the one in the hotseat. The parallel action of the final climax is on par with the baptism scene in The Godfather and packs just as strong or stronger a punch.
Too often India and other developing nations are exotified in films, depicted as beautiful vacation spots and not the real places they are. Boyle finds a delicate balance between that trend and actually showing the squalor and poverty that plague the inner cities of India and I give him props for doing so. It's easy to place oneself in the position of this fated young man as he stands on the verge of incredible wealth and understand the implications this has for him, and to understand the draw of a game show like Millionaire, which gives literally anyone the chance to rise from their ordinary life and attain the dream of riches.
Slumdog Millionaire is a film that gives the sense that it too was destined for greatness. Everything falls into place in such a way that finding a fault is nigh on impossible, and that in itself is such a rarity that simple artistic merit and skilled craftsmanship can't take the credit for the power and beauty of this film. Everyone everywhere can feel the life-affirming radiance of this film and my sincerest wish is that many millions of people will. Whether you're a slumdog or not, this film proves that anyone can be rich if they know the value of love and if it is written to be so.
-Mark Moreland
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2004-2009 Thoughtsonfilm.com |
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Director:
Danny Boyle
Writer: Simon Beaufoy, Vikas Swarup
Starring: Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor, Freida Pinto, Irrfan Khan, Madhur Mittal
Distributor: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Runtime: 120
min
Rating: R
Release Date: November 12, 2008
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ThoughtsOn Awards: Director, Film Editing, Original Score
Thoughtsonfilm.com Top 20: #2
Oscar Nominee: Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Score, Song ("Jai Ho," "O Saya"), Sound, Sound Editing
IMDb
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