Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight)
Becomes A Winner Through Sheer Determination
Slumdog Millionaire is unlike any other movie you are going to see this year. It is a tale about a young man in India on his way to becoming a winner on the India version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire The winning is not as predictable or understandable in this country, and a whisper of cheating can get you in hot water with the police. Go on a quiz show in India at your peril.
The locale of this story is Mumbai, India, a place that was recently in the headlines due to terrorist attacks. In the film it is a place of slums and poverty but one that also has areas of beauty and prosperity. Jamal (Dev Patel) is a child of the slums and he and his brother Salim (Madhur Mittal) are orphaned at an early age. They get by on their own devices.
In their youth they befriend a girl named Latika (Freida Pinto). She becomes the big love of Jamals life. Fate conspires to keep Jamal and Latika apart but destiny always brings them back together. They are always in each others thoughts and prayers.
Watching the terrible time Jamal and Salim have growing up is not easy. There are scenes of child abuse, police brutality, religious persecution and a host of other problems. It is hard to believe that two young boys could actually reach adulthood in such a place.
The acting is good in the film with Patel being the best of the group. He manages to keep the innocence of Jamal alive no matter what hardships he is put through. Plus he keeps the romantic sparks going with Pinto even though their scenes together are very chaste.
The film is rated R for profanity, violence and brief nudity.
In Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle gives us a movie that stays with you after the film has ended. You get so caught up in the story of Jamal, Salim and Latika that the fate of these characters becomes an issue in your memory.
To make sure you leave the theater in a good mood there is a Bollywood type dance number at the end during the credits. It is on the very same train platform where some of the terrorist actions took place. It is nice to have a happy image to place there rather than the horrific one.
Slumdog Millionaire is a worthwhile film but I doubt it will find a very broad audience. There is just too much drama to go through in order to get to the possibly happy ending.
I scored Slumdog Millionaire a winning 7 out of 10.
