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.
