Movie Review: Slumdog Millionaire

Entertaining Realism


Question: Slumdog Millionaire won “Best Picture” at the 2009 Academy Awards because of:

A. Great storytelling
B. Awesome directing
C. Wonderful cinematography and film editing
D. All of the above

If posed with the question above and given the respective choices below, it helps to discuss first why the film “Slumdog Millionaire” works.

Well, it works primarily because the majority can relate to the story: a wonderful narrative about a kid with a dream and fueled by this universal phenomenon called love.

”Slumdog Millionaire” is the story of Jamal Malik (Dev Patel), a slumdog youngster living together with his elder brother Salim (Madhur Mittal) in the impoverished streets of Mumbai, India. Jamal meets fellow slumdog Latika (Freida Pinto) during one rainy evening and falls for her. After a series of unfortunate twists and turns, Salim forces Jamal to go live on his own due to personal greed. Jamal runs away in tears as he is separated from his love. Years later, Jamal works as an assistant for a call center and gets a chance to be reunited with both Salim and Latika when he covers for a call center agent who wanted to watch Indian’s version of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire”. Although Jamal and Latika finally gets to see each other after so long, it lasted briefly, as Salim took her away from him. It is in this moment when Jamal decides to become a contestant in “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire”, believing that Latika will be watching the show.

Jamal does join the show, pulling out his answers based on his remarkable experiences growing up in Mumbai. When he reaches the jackpot round that promises a bounty of 20 million rupee, Jamal is brought to the police station for questioning, based on the assumption that the reason why an ill-educated slumdog could answer correctly was due to cheating. As Jamal narrates his past and his phenomenal story unfolds, his fate to return to the show hangs in the balance. Will he be able to come back and answer the final question correctly? Will he be reunited with Latika as well?

Call this movie a mini-comeback of sorts for director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting). After making ”Sunshine” in 2007 which received its share of negative reviews, Boyle chanced upon the opportunity to helm “Slumdog Millionaire” after reading a script from screenwriter Simon Beaufoy, whose past work “The Full Monty” Boyle admired. The visual interpretation of Beaufoy’s well-written script is done well, adding a touch of realism with a breath of movie entertainment savvy and mixing them all in this artistic montage of flashback scenes that succeeds to tell the story as a whole. Co-director Loveleen Tandan also deserves the credit for helping bring together cohesion especially in the on-location scenes that show the raw emotions of the harsh conditions of the slums.

The actors who portrayed the characters showed authenticity, with some of them actually living their lives in the slums, further enhancing the realistic feel to the movie. Also, the use of smart shot selection is evident, particularly in the chase scene of Jamal and Salim in the middle of the shanties. From a close up shot looking down, the scene gradually zooms out to reveal the world where both kids live in. Another memorable scene is felt between Jamal and Latika, as they were both looking at each other in the subway station. Amidst the fast-paced, heavily populated and maddening chaos, everything else seemed to be in slow motion, as both protagonists express their feelings for each other.

The film’s plot lines come together in the end magnificently, fixing the loose ends and leading to a brilliantly executed climax that reflects life’s take on fate and destiny. What also makes this flick standout is that it is able to deliver its message about the existence of hope; that is exists no matter what circumstance a person is in.

Now going back to the question posted above as to why “Slumdog Millionaire” was chosen as “Best Picture”, my answer would be letter D. The film caught attention not only because it was uniquely special, but also because of great storytelling, awesome directing, wonderful cinematography and film editing.

D. All of the above.

And this is my final answer.


FILM RATING: 4 stars ( out of 5 )