Slumdog Millionaire (Movie Review)

Movie Review
Slumdog Millionaire
Dir. Danny Boyle
Starring: Dev Patel, Frieda Pinto, Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan
Runtime: 2:00

It’s surprising that it has taken so long for there to be a major movie centered around the game show craze of the late 90s but finally, in 2008, we finally get it. Rather than a cash in on a passing fad, Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire is an incredible film looking at the life of man growing up in the slums and who he able to outthink people far more educated than him to be able to have a chance at winning the top prize on India’s version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.

The movie starts wtih 18-year-old Jamal Malik (Patel) being tortured by Indian police into finding out how he had cheated in the game. Patel says nothing and the police grow impatient. They can’t believe that a slumdog could be able to win so much money when people far more educated then him fall apart only a few questions in on the show. The torture goes a little too far and the police inspector (Iffran Khan) decided to take a more humane approach with Jamal. While playing back the episode of Millionaire, Jamal tells the story of how he came to know the answer of each question. While each question is innocent enough, Jamal relates each answer to a horrific event that happened in his life such as the attack on his slum by anti-Muslims which resulted in the death of his mother and the disappearance of the only love of his life, Latika (Frieda Pinto).

Even though you know that Jamal is sitting in the hotseat going for 20 million rupees, each event that he tells leaves the viewer in suspense on whether he, his brother, or Latika make it out unscathed. Boyle does a great job at holding off telling the whole story until it is absolutely necessary. The film is well-paced and does not feel like a two-hour film. Every triumph and heartbreak for Jamal seems stronger than the last and at the end of the film, you feel immersed in the scenario of the movie. You want Jamal to win as if he were real and not just another movie character. The acting is so well done; from the scenes acted out while Jamal and company are children through to their adult years. It’s actually a bit eerie as the children are so adorable even though they are dealing and living through a terrible climate of poverty and fear.

There’s not much that can be criticized about. Sure there a couple of camera techniques that the average movie watcher may find annoying and the frequent independent flashbacks of images of Latika through Jamal’s eyes start to lose their point after what feels like the twentieth time but these are things that you’d only notice if you were looking for something to dislike about the film. This film is simply incredible and is solid in every part facet of filmmaking. This film may not just be a film of the year candidate but one of the decade. It is cinema at its best.

☆☆☆☆☆