Brutal and beautiful, tragic and joyful, it's one of the year's best movies, a
must-see!
by Susan Granger | October 28, 2008
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Susan Granger's review of "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight/Warner Bros.)
When 18 year-old Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) from the streets of
Mumbai comes up with an unlikely stream of correct answers, winning
millions of rupees on India's version of "Who Wants to Be a
Millionaire," he's suspected of cheating by the game show's host (Anil
Kapoor). Grilled by a police investigator (Irrfan Khan), Jamal
reluctantly reveals how his intricate, Dickensian life experiences have
informed his knowledge.
As a child, sensitive Jamal and his older brother, Salim, were left to
fend for themselves in the squalid slums when their mother was killed
in a mob attack on Muslims. At Jamal's insistence, they take in a third
urchin, a girl named Latika, envisioning themselves as the Three
Musketeers. After they're captured by a vicious, Fagin-like operator
who trains street beggars, crafty Salim saves Jamal from mutilation.
But as they escape by jumping on a moving train, they're separated from
Latika, whom Jamal loves. In a hilarious sequence, the boys find
themselves at the Taj Mahal, where they pose as guides, dispensing
misinformation and scamming gullible tourists. Eventually, Salim
(Madhur Mittal) falls in with gangsters, while Jamal toils as a lowly
tea-server at XL5 Communications and is determined to 'rescue' Latika
(Freida Pinto).
Working with screenwriter Simon Beaufoy ("The Full Monty"), adapting
Vikas Swarup's novel "Q&A," Danny Boyle ("Trainspotting,"
"Millions," "28 Days Later") skillfully concocts %u2013 in flashback
%u2013 an ironic, vividly irresistible saga of courage and
determination, introducing an exotic socio-economic-cultural angle
which makes this premise fresh and filled with unexpected moments of
revelation. Add the vibrant cinematography and kinetic energy of the
throbbing soundtrack and on the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10,
"Slumdog Millionaire" is an intoxicating, triumphant 10. Brutal and
beautiful, tragic and joyful, it's one of the year's best movies, a
must-see!
