Movie Review: Slumdog Millionaire
A young boy and his brother are orphaned after a viscous attack by thugs. The pair befriends a girl who begins a life-long romance with the boy. After a lifetime of tragedy and adversity the young boy goes on a game show and changes his life. It is the epitome of the American dream, except this story takes place in Mumbai India.
Slumdog Millionaire is the new film from the very diverse director Danny Boyle. Boyle doesn’t like to be shoe horned into remaking the same genre of film. A look at his work shows attempts at Sci-Fi: Sunshine, Family film: Millions, Horror: 28 Days Later, and Drug culture: Trainspotting. Here he is working in yet another genre. On the surface it would appear the movie is a Bollywood film, there is even a musical/dance number over the end credits. But, after seeing the film it has more in common with a fairy tale then anything else.
The movie opens with a fury as we see Jamal (Dev Patel) being tortured by the local police force. Through dialogue we soon learn he is a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. He has been accused of cheating. The police question how he could be doing so well, game shows are for smart people not poor Slumdogs like Jamal. The film answers this in a very effective manner. We watch Jamal as he is asked a question on the show. Then in flashback we witness not only how he knows the answers but, also how each one marks a key moment in his life.
It is a tough life as Jamal and his brother have to learn to steal to survive in Mumbai. The city almost becomes a foreboding character in the film. The majority of the people live in slums, the boys are forced to live at a garbage dump for a while. People bathe in polluted rivers while not a mile way others live in luxury. There is clearly a caste system in effect with Jamal being on the wrong side of it.
Most of the flashback segments involve either his brother Salim (Madhur Mittal) or Latika (Freida Pinto), the girl he falls in love with. The three meet at an early age and form their own version of The Three Musketeers. Jamal does his best to protect Latika, though fate separates them several times throughout the story.
Slumdog Millionaire plays like one of Disney’s popular animated films, only for an adult audience. In the hands of a lesser director this could have been a huge handicap. Surely when the hero triumphs there can be no surprise right? If there is no surprise how can there be tension? Yet Boyle manages to create tension. Jamal is expected to give all the right answers but never knows if the bottom will fall out suddenly.
Even with a somewhat predictable plot the story never fails to amuse, move, and feel original. It is a classic underdog story with heroic good guys and the most villianous of bad guys. It is a story of love lost and found. A story of the poorest of boys rising from poverty. Slumdog Millionaire is one of the best movies of the year, sure to rewarded at Oscar time.
***** out of *****
Great lines-Almost Famous
Just because I watched Almost Famous today.
William Miller: [on meeting Stillwater] Russell. Jeff. Ed. Larry. I really love your band. I think the song “Fever Dog” is a big step forward for you guys. I think you guys producing it yourselves, instead of Glyn Johns, was the right thing to do. And the guitar sound… is incindiary. Incendiary. Way to go.
[He turns to leave. The band members regard one another for a moment]
Russell Hammond: Well, don’t stop there!
Jeff Bebe: Yeah, come back here! I’m incendiary, too, man!
Lester Bangs: What, are you like the star of your school?
William Miller: They hate me.
Lester Bangs: You’ll meet them all again on their long journey to the middle.
Jeff Bebe: “Rock ‘n’ roll can save the world”? “The chicks are great”? I sound like a dick!
Russell Hammond: [to himself] You are a dick.
Russell Hammond: I am a golden god!
Russell Hammond: I never said I was a golden god… or did I?
Penny Lane: I always tell the girls, never take it seriously, if ya never take it seriosuly, ya never get hurt, ya never get hurt, ya always have fun, and if you ever get lonely, just go to the record store and visit your friends.
Penny Lane: Famous people are just more interesting.
William Miller: Well, it was fun.
Lester Bangs: They make you feel cool. And hey. I met you. You are not cool.
William Miller: I know. Even when I thought I was, I knew I wasn’t.
Lester Bangs: That’s because we’re uncool. And while women will always be a problem for us, most of the great art in the world is about that very same problem. Good-looking people don’t have any spine. Their art never lasts. They get the girls, but we’re smarter.
William Miller: I can really see that now.
Lester Bangs: Yeah, great art is about conflict and pain and guilt and longing and love disguised as sex, and sex disguised as love… and let’s face it, you got a big head start.
William Miller: I’m glad you were home.
Lester Bangs: I’m always home. I’m uncool.
William Miller: Me too!
Lester Bangs: The only true currency in this bankrupt world if what we share with someone else when we’re uncool.
William Miller: I feel better.
Lester Bangs: My advice to you. I know you think those guys are your friends. You wanna be a true friend to them? Be honest, and unmerciful.
Thought I was watching football…
Like most people I’m switching between election coverage and whatever else is on tonight. For a brief while I was watching the Chicago FOX affiliate and had a flashback to Sunday morning. There was a commentator, who knows or cares what his name is, standing in front of a giant map on a computer screen. He’s pushing buttons and moving the image around to different states. He then starts circling and diagramming like he’s John Madden calling a Bears/Packers game.
I quickly get bored with the coverage and flip around the channels coming to a stop on the excellent Bill Murray movie Quick Change. I’m not totally in limbo though, I jump on the wide world of web to check out the Chicago Sun-Times web site with updated results and statistics. Just like the fantasy football websites my leagues are registered with.
At this point I’m convinced insanity is setting in. I love fantasy football and all but come on, this is election day! Surely it has nothing to do with fantasy football. Think about it, for the election, especially a presidential election, you do research on each candidate. You listen to the talking heads, you read bios, you compare all the things they’ve accomplished, and you do your best to anticipate just how well they’ll be able to handle the high pressure demands of the job. Someone you can pin all your hopes on. Just like a first round draft pick in a fantasy football draft.
Wow, only in America could choosing a new leader be the same as playing fantasy football. Some people might not find that too amusing. Me, I find it reassuring. Makes it all feel comfortable, a little more normal.
So have fun with your election coverage. Hopefully you went out and did your part and voted. Maybe your candidate won. Maybe they didn’t. But don’t put too much of yourself in to it. No matter how perfect a politician is they’re still just a person. They are not going to do everything they say they will. They will get some things right, they will also disappoint. In the end only history will tell if they are chumps or champs…
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