BOTTOM
LINE:
This classic rags-to-riches
tale accomplishes the feat of not only telling a great story of
triumph over adversity but manages to open your eyes to a part of
the world that is hardly ever covered in a Hollywood film besides
clichés; no wonder the Academy gave it the Best Picture Oscar.
THE
GOOD: “Slumdog
Millionaire” works on many levels, least of which being the
theme of destiny. Juxtaposing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for
lead character Jamal (Dev Patel) to play the game show ‘Who
Wants To Be A Millionaire’ with his tumultuous life story
of where he grew up in the slums of Mumbai India is a rich and powerful
tale of triumph over adversity. Jamal only wants to be with his
true love Latika (Freida Pinto). To find her, he manages to get
himself on to the game show for the sole purpose that she will see
him and contact him. As fate would have it, Jamal knows the answers
to all the questions through the random events that have occurred
to him. Jamal does not know who is on the one thousand rupee note
but he does know who is on the US hundred dollar bill because a
blind boy who was made blind in order to become a beggar tells Jamal
who it is, a fate Jamal barely escaped himself. Game show host Prem
Kumar (Anil Kapoor) calls in the police on suspicions that Jamal
is cheating (after all, how can a slumdog know anything). As the
police question him, Jamal tells his life story and in so doing,
gives detailed accounts of specific incidents which directly relate
to how he knew the answer to each and every question he was asked
on the show. This story is harrowing, particularly in the telling
of Jamal’s life as a child. For example, he knows what the
God Rama is holding in his hand because when anti-Muslim violence
breaks out in his slum and his mother is violently killed, he sees
a child dressed as Rama as he escapes. Watching all these incidents
unfold through dramatic flashbacks and cross-cutting, we learn that
Jamal’s destiny was to succeed in winning the game show, thereby
allowing him to rise up out of the slums and live the dream of riches,
with the entire country watching on in awe. The film is inspiring,
sometimes brutal and ultimately moving without ever becoming corny
or sentimental, even when Jamal realises his destiny and gets the
girl. Director Danny Boyle takes a classically archetypal storyline
and transposes it in to a culture that is barely covered outside
of stereotypes in Hollywood, crafting a brilliant piece of cinema
that not only plays to the rags-to-riches story it tells but opens
your eyes to another culture and world that many in Western nations
may not necessarily have any understanding of. “Slumdog Millionaire”
is perhaps deservedly the winner of the Best Picture Oscar, simply
for working in metaphors, showing a different side of the world,
and doing it on a very modest budget while delivering some powerful
visuals and storytelling.
