What does it take to change your destiny? When you're born a poor child, your family is killed, making you an orphan, and as a result you spend your childhood and adolescence scamming and scavenging to get by, what possible hope is there for you to win a millions of dollars on a popular game show?
Director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, Sunshine)answers that question in Slumdog Millionaire which is a heartfelt tale of Jamal, an orphan that takes up a life of innocent crime with his brother Salim after his mother is killed.
The movie focuses on three periods in the boys' lives. Jamal, the innocent doe-eyed boy who fawns after a young girl who also lost her family, struggles to find his footing eventually growing up and working for a call center. Salim, the tough-as-nails older brother turns to a life of crime, killing fellow con-men, serving his own interests, and even using the object of his brothers affections, Latika, to his advantage.
Latika, as Jamal finds out, is a fan of the Hindi version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" after a failed attempt to take her from her current life where she lives with a wealthy criminal. Jamal then decides to take a chance with his fate and becomes a contestant on the game show with the simple hope of having Latika see him again.
The movie is told through three vignettes. The first where Jamal, played by doe-eyed Dev Patel, is being interrogated by police after the first night on the game show where he successfully answers questions that doctors and lawyers can't even answer. They suspect him of cheating. The second where Jamal is on the game show answering question after question with much trepidation and lack of expression. The third and final is the narrative which explains how this boy, this kid from the slums, who wasn't meant for greater things, knows the answers to the questions he's being asked.
What transpires in the following two hours is a tale of hope and tragedy, love and loss. And what occurs emotionally is more important and fulfilling than the desire for Jamal to win, both the money and the girl, but the realization that sometimes when you don't know the questions, the answers are already written out for you. ***A***
1 comment:
This has got to be one of the best movies I saw this year. I love the way they told the story of how he knew the answers. Those kids were so cute and the music video at the end, classic Bollywood.
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