Slumdog Millionaire

(2008)

Directed by

Danny Boyle

Review by Terry Plucknett

It’s the American dream being lived out in India.  An ultimate rags to riches story.  How do you go from rags to riches in India?  It’s easy: win Who Wants to be a Millionaire?  This story follows a teenage boy through his run on India’s version of the popular game show and shows how his rough life as a homeless orphan led him to that stage and all the answers.  It’s a simple story, and it was completely fascinating and fun from start to finish.

The movie starts by posing a question: how is Jamal Malik one question away from winning 20 million rupees … A.  he cheated … B.  he’s lucky … C.  he’s a genius … D.  it is written.  The rest of the movie strives to answer this question as it then cuts to a torture chamber where the young main character is being held and interrogated for cheating on the very popular Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?  After torturing is unsuccessful, a police chief watches the tape of the show with Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) and asks him to explain how he knew the answer to each question.  At this, we see flashbacks back throughout Jamal’s life showing his rough life as a “slumdog” in India being homeless, orphaned, enslaved, freed, and everything else in between.  His partner-in-crime on these escapades is his older brother Salim.  Salim is much less kind-hearted than Jamal, always trying to find a way to make a quick buck and get ahead.  After some time, a little girl named Latika joins their adventures as their “Third Musketeer.”  Jamal and Latika have an instant connection and do everything together until they are separated in an escape.  From then on, the movie focuses on Jamal’s efforts to find Latika so they can be together.  This leads him to the set of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? as a contestant because it is Latika’s favorite show.  To the shock of Jamal and everyone else in India, he gets one question away from the top prize on the show, which no one else has even come close to.  This causes the questioning of Jamal for cheating.

This movie is wonderfully acted all around.  Jamal, Salim, and Latika are acted by three different people as they grow up, each trio doing a great job.  The star of this film though is Patel, playing the oldest version of Jamal, a kid from the slums trying to live a legitimate life when his brother became a gangster and his girl is nowhere to be found.  He gives a memorable, heart-felt performance.

The direction of this movie was brilliant by versatile Danny Boyle.  His last three movies have been a kids drama in Millions, a sci-fi thriller in Sunshine, and Slumdog Millionaire.  However, Slumdog is the best of this trio.  The scenery of India is amazing, and there are several chase sequences that are shot in a fun, fast-paced way.  This film definitely adds to Boyle’s résumé.

Three scenes stand out to me looking back on the film.  First is a scene where Jamal is in an outhouse and is locked in by Salim as their favorite movie star pays their town a visit.  To not miss this great opportunity, Jamal escapes the only way he can, down.  He ends up being the only kid to get an autograph.  The second sequence finds the brothers at the Taj Mahal, which they think is a giant hotel.  They begin to masquerade as tour guides, giving unsuspecting tourists false information.  The third scene starts as the credits start rolling.  I do not want to give it away, but it is definitely a surprise and a fun ending to a fun movie.

This film is a great, feel-good story that is better than you might expect it to be.  A must see.

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