SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

A Brief Review

(SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE stars Dev Patel, Frieda Pinto and Irrfan Khan. A picture written by Simon Beaufoy and directed by Danny Boyle [Trainspotting]. Rated 'R' for violence, adult themes, disturbing images and mild profanity.)

My Grade: A

This movie is a masterwork from one of the world's most talented (albeit inconsistent) directors. Slumdog Millionaire tells the elliptical story of three kids from the Mumbai slums and the different paths they take as they try to escape their desperate and dangerous circumstances. This story is told in flashback, as it turns out one of the kids, Jamal (Dev Patel) has, as a young adult, made his way onto India's most popular gameshow "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" (yes, that one - but with Bollywood star Anil Kapoor in the Regis role). As Jamal improbably moves closer to winning the show's ultimate prize (20 million rupees, or slightly over $1 million) the movie flashes back to show exactly how a kid from the slums knows all of the answers, with all of the hard worn lessons and life experiences that led him to this point.

Irrfan Khan, so excellent in The Namesake, appears here as a skeptical police inspector called in to investigate Jamal on the night before he makes his final taping on the game show. After all, a kid like Jamal must be cheating his way to the 20 million rupees, right?

Structurally, Boyle cross cuts effectively between the three main characters--Jamal, his older brother Salim and street urchin and future love interest, Latika (Frieda Pinto)--as small children and as young adults and while his technique is a little jarring at the outset of the movie, eventually one comes to realize that everything of importance that happens in the movie has been revealed in the first five minutes, although it will take viewing the entire picture to piece together how and when these events and images occurred. All of the performances are excellent with the child versions of Jamal, Salim and Latika doing as good a work or even better than their older counterparts.

As someone who hasn't yet seen his critically acclaimed 2004 film Millions (another film about disadvantaged young people unexpectedly coming into a large sum of money), to me Slumdog Millionaire represents Danny Boyle's most successful and affecting film since Trainspotting. One doesn't have to know a lot about Bollywood films to appreciate Slumdog Millionaire (although a cursory familiarity with some of Bollywood's bigger stars might add a layer of understanding to certain scenes). Slumdog Millionaire is an engrossing and universal romantic drama that never preaches and never loses focus. Later in the week, I'll figure out where Slumdog ranks among the year's best motion pictures, but I can say without hesitation that it will definitely be somewhere on that list.

Peace...