Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

02Dec08

Slumdog Millionaire IMDB Link

Directed By: Danny Boyle & Loveleen Tandan (India)

Written By: Simon Beaufoy

Starring: Dev Patel, Freida Pinto

I love being absolutely surprised by a film. Slumdog Millionaire is a film that drips with energy and has a classic story covered in so much style and charm that it’s hard not to love.

With sunlight popping in from every angle, vibrant colors and a real vivid sense of a personal struggle, Slumdog Millionaire tells the story of the life of Jamal Malik. He has just won millions on “Who Wants to Be A Millionaire” but all the police want to know is how he cheated because a poor little shit growing up on the streets of Mumbai hustling could never know all those answers. Jamal watches the tape again with the police and tells them why he knows each answer and it’s usually because each questions is attached to a pivotal sometimes heart breaking, sometimes frightening and sometimes joyous moment of his life on the streets.

How the film grips you is it’s storytelling. The best part about it is it’s built on the done before, done again, and will be done again rags to riches story. But the way it’s told through the interrogation and with it’s energy and frenetic pace gives it a fresh feel. It’s like a great Hollywood movie told in a not so Hollywood way.

The actors equally do a great job through all 3 phases of his life and by the end the rooting interest really digs into you. The acting, the great directing by Boyle, the fantastic visuals (sometimes captured with a digital SLR camera) all come together to make a great film.

On a side note, whenever I watch films that span someone’s life I’m always more interested and mesmerized by the scenes of childhood. Whether it’s how Noodles met Maximilian in Once Upon A Time In America or the concentration on the kids in Season 4 of “The Wire”, I always enjoy that certain phase more. This is definitely a personal taste of mine as most people usually like the opposite. I think the reason I find it more interesting is it seems to me a more personal experience, more specific and therefore more unique. It just seems as characters get older in those films the more they lose their individuality and the more they turn into a standard role.

Regardless,if your hankering (yeah I said hankering) to see a great flick, check out Slumdog Millionaire. I can’t wait to see what Boyle has up his sleeve next.

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Tags: Danny Boyle, movie review, Mumbai, Slumdog Millionaire