Danny Boyle has come a long way since splashing onto the scene with Shallow Grave and Trainspotting. Back then, he was a good director making good films. After Life Less Ordinary and The Beach, he made a jump to sci-fi with the zombie flick 28 Days Later. In 2007, with the release of Sunshine, Boyle became a great director making great films. He proves it again with Slumdog Millionaire, a perfectly crafted masterpiece of love versus money, set in present day India.
Slumdog Millionaire is about a boy named Jamal Malik (played by Dev Patel) who becomes a contestant on the Indian version of the popular game show, “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire”. After winning 20 million rupees, he’s taken into custody and interrogated by the police who demand to know how a homeless, orphaned, uneducated ‘chai-walla’ (one who delivers glasses of hot Indian tea to nearby businesses), could possibly know the answers to the show’s questions. As they harass and torture Malik, Boyle gives us engrossing stories of his life – an almost incredulous journey that has brought him to this point.
At the heart of Slumdog Millionaire is a love story. Not a melodramatic romance, but rather, a search for love. After witnessing the death of his mother in a riot between Hindus and Muslims in the slums of Mumbai, an orphaned Jamal befriends a young girl named Latika (Freida Pinto), who becomes his self-chosen soul-mate. But shortly after, they are kidnapped and exploited by criminals. Eventually, Jamal and his brother Salim escape, unwillingly leaving Latika behind. Thus begins Jamal’s quest to reunite with his life-long love. A quest that lands him on “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire”, Latika’s favorite show.
What makes Slumdog Millionaire such a great film is that Danny Boyle creates a parable without it being obvious or preachy. Although penniless, Jamal is not interested in the money; he’s on the show to prove his love for Latika. Boyle’s film is unique by making Jamal’s story a fairytale – every horrific moment of young Jamal’s sad life is preparation for the questions he will be asked on the game show. It is simply destiny and fate, not conscious decisions and choice. (However, there is a twist in the second half of the film regarding his time on the game show that won’t be revealed here.)
This is filmmaking at it’s best. Slumdog is entertaining and insightful. It’s beautiful and it’s moving. Even with the serious subject matter of the background stories, this does not feel like a ‘heavy’ movie. It remains uplifting throughout, in the same way that Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amelie did. The acting is great all-around, although the buzz behind Freida Pinto is surely based more on her model-looks, and less on her role as Latika, which actually amounts to very little screen-time. Dev Patel and Anil Kapoor (Kapoor plays the host of the game show) are stand-outs, along with the supporting cast, which includes kids from the actual slums. It’s also great to look at. Not since Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay have we seen such a rich, honest portrayal of the underworld in Mumbai (one of the slums shown has a population of nearly two million homeless people). Boyle says he shot the scenes around the Taj Mahal with a Cannon EOS still camera, but you can’t tell.
It should be noted with kudos that Fox Searchlight, the distributor, has been releasing some of the best films around. Searchlight seems to have taken over a role once filled by Mirimax in the 90’s. Like Juno last year, Slumdog Millionaire is an Oscar quality film. Danny Boyle is an Oscar quality director, and this movie will make him ‘A-List’. It’s extremely rare to find such a filmmaker who can so greatly transcend multiple genres in film. The world will be watching to see what Danny Boyle does next.
Slumdog Millionaire is about a boy named Jamal Malik (played by Dev Patel) who becomes a contestant on the Indian version of the popular game show, “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire”. After winning 20 million rupees, he’s taken into custody and interrogated by the police who demand to know how a homeless, orphaned, uneducated ‘chai-walla’ (one who delivers glasses of hot Indian tea to nearby businesses), could possibly know the answers to the show’s questions. As they harass and torture Malik, Boyle gives us engrossing stories of his life – an almost incredulous journey that has brought him to this point.
At the heart of Slumdog Millionaire is a love story. Not a melodramatic romance, but rather, a search for love. After witnessing the death of his mother in a riot between Hindus and Muslims in the slums of Mumbai, an orphaned Jamal befriends a young girl named Latika (Freida Pinto), who becomes his self-chosen soul-mate. But shortly after, they are kidnapped and exploited by criminals. Eventually, Jamal and his brother Salim escape, unwillingly leaving Latika behind. Thus begins Jamal’s quest to reunite with his life-long love. A quest that lands him on “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire”, Latika’s favorite show.
What makes Slumdog Millionaire such a great film is that Danny Boyle creates a parable without it being obvious or preachy. Although penniless, Jamal is not interested in the money; he’s on the show to prove his love for Latika. Boyle’s film is unique by making Jamal’s story a fairytale – every horrific moment of young Jamal’s sad life is preparation for the questions he will be asked on the game show. It is simply destiny and fate, not conscious decisions and choice. (However, there is a twist in the second half of the film regarding his time on the game show that won’t be revealed here.)
This is filmmaking at it’s best. Slumdog is entertaining and insightful. It’s beautiful and it’s moving. Even with the serious subject matter of the background stories, this does not feel like a ‘heavy’ movie. It remains uplifting throughout, in the same way that Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amelie did. The acting is great all-around, although the buzz behind Freida Pinto is surely based more on her model-looks, and less on her role as Latika, which actually amounts to very little screen-time. Dev Patel and Anil Kapoor (Kapoor plays the host of the game show) are stand-outs, along with the supporting cast, which includes kids from the actual slums. It’s also great to look at. Not since Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay have we seen such a rich, honest portrayal of the underworld in Mumbai (one of the slums shown has a population of nearly two million homeless people). Boyle says he shot the scenes around the Taj Mahal with a Cannon EOS still camera, but you can’t tell.
It should be noted with kudos that Fox Searchlight, the distributor, has been releasing some of the best films around. Searchlight seems to have taken over a role once filled by Mirimax in the 90’s. Like Juno last year, Slumdog Millionaire is an Oscar quality film. Danny Boyle is an Oscar quality director, and this movie will make him ‘A-List’. It’s extremely rare to find such a filmmaker who can so greatly transcend multiple genres in film. The world will be watching to see what Danny Boyle does next.
__________________
The Sound Villains
Fresh music, movies, tv, and pop-culture reviews and opinions for a creative generation
http://soundvillains.com
The Sound Villains
Fresh music, movies, tv, and pop-culture reviews and opinions for a creative generation
http://soundvillains.com