'Slumdog' wants to be a millionaire
With “Slumdog Millionaire,” we get a compelling sense that Charles Dickens’ 19th century London has somehow landed in Mumbai in 2006.
The artful dodgers spring from the Indian slums in Danny Boyle’s intoxicating tale that tumbles coming-of-age, survival of the fittest, romance, crime and “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” into the year’s best film.
Fast-paced, stylish and magnificently layered, “Slumdog Millionaire” is cinematic lasagna. Each layer, whether it is about a boy survivor from the slums (thus “slumdog”) or focusing on the abused girl he deeply loves, delights the palate.
Boyle, the curious, daring British director of almost amazing diversity (“Trainspotting,” “28 Days Later,” “Millions”) brings an outsider’s eye to the project.
He had never been to India before committing to direct Simon Beaufoy’s stirring transformation of Vikas Swarup’s debut novel “Q&A.”
The novel was a series of a dozen sometimes disconnected stories, however. What Beaufoy does so wonderfully here is tie the tale together — or as Boyle says, “give it a spine.” As unlikely as it sounds, this is a poignant story of one teen’s journey into manhood, torture at the hands of the police and, if he answers correctly, 20 million rupees thanks to India’s version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.”
“Slumdog Millionaire,” in Hindi most of the time with subtitles, does everything a movie needs to do. It takes us somewhere most of us have never been. Despite a region teeming with slums and poverty, Anthony Dod Mantel’s cinematography is often breathtaking. And the story? Absolutely marvelous.
Jamal (Dev Patel), who emerged from the Mumbai slums with his brother Salim, has baffled authorities with his correct answers on the popular quiz show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.”
When the show takes a break for the night, however, Jamal just wants to survive torture and electric shock at the hands of the police.
Someone thinks the boy is cheating. He’s not, though. As Jamal relates his life odyssey to a jaded police inspector through the night, the real beauty of “Slumdog Millionaire” begins to rise to the surface.
What Boyle does, with the able assist of Indian co-director Loveleen Tandan, is reveal how this uneducated boy knows the answers that pop up at random.
He’s an innocent, of sorts. Corruption is all around him, from the police department to the game show itself. Jamal may not even be in all this for the money.
His life is nothing without Latika (Freida Pinto), a childhood friend who has owned his heart for years, but who also got swept up in the seedy side of survival of the fittest.
“Slumdog Millionaire” has been piling up well-deserved “best film” awards ever since it took the Audience Award at the Toronto Film Festival in September. Most recently, the Golden Globe nominee (best motion picture — drama, best screenplay and best director) drew top honors from the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association, where it got the vote from this aisle seat.
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