A Review on Movie Slumdog Millionaire
The latest from the British shape-shifter Danny Boyle A flashy, gorgeous rush of color, sound and motion, “Slumdog Millionaire,” doesn’t travel through the lower depths, it playfully bounces from one horror to the next.
A writer described it in this way, “A modern fairy tale about a pauper angling to become a prince, this sensory blowout largely takes place amid the squalor of Mumbai, India, where lost children and dogs sift through trash so fetid you swear you can smell the discarded mango as well as its peel, or could if the film weren’t already hurtling through another picturesque gutter.”
The story of Slumdog Millionaire is a simple one — Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) is on the verge of winning 20 million rupees on the Indian version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” but he’s been arrested on suspicion of cheating. In his attempt to explain how he knew all of the answers, Jamal is forced to recall the sometimes painful memories from his childhood that led him to know them all. And through a series of flashbacks we watch Jamal’s life unfold, filled with hardships, a tough relationship with his brother Salim (Madhur Mittal) and his unwavering love for his childhood friend Latika (Freida Pinto).
The film is told through a series of flashbacks linking the jailed Jamal in the present with the hardships of his past. While Jamal’s love for Latika remains the center of the story throughout, the film never strays away from giving us big helpings of reality and gut-wrenching drama. It is fluffy, somewhat implausible love story in one moment and real world tragedy in the next, keeping its audience engaged at every turn. As well, the performances from all three actors that portray Jamal through the stages of his life sell him as our slum-born hero. He’s a character so likable that it really isn’t fair. All we are left to do is pull for him.
I seriously enjoyed the movie because it has got punch and narrative pizzazz: a strong, clear, instantly graspable storyline
A writer described it in this way, “A modern fairy tale about a pauper angling to become a prince, this sensory blowout largely takes place amid the squalor of Mumbai, India, where lost children and dogs sift through trash so fetid you swear you can smell the discarded mango as well as its peel, or could if the film weren’t already hurtling through another picturesque gutter.”
The story of Slumdog Millionaire is a simple one — Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) is on the verge of winning 20 million rupees on the Indian version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” but he’s been arrested on suspicion of cheating. In his attempt to explain how he knew all of the answers, Jamal is forced to recall the sometimes painful memories from his childhood that led him to know them all. And through a series of flashbacks we watch Jamal’s life unfold, filled with hardships, a tough relationship with his brother Salim (Madhur Mittal) and his unwavering love for his childhood friend Latika (Freida Pinto).
The film is told through a series of flashbacks linking the jailed Jamal in the present with the hardships of his past. While Jamal’s love for Latika remains the center of the story throughout, the film never strays away from giving us big helpings of reality and gut-wrenching drama. It is fluffy, somewhat implausible love story in one moment and real world tragedy in the next, keeping its audience engaged at every turn. As well, the performances from all three actors that portray Jamal through the stages of his life sell him as our slum-born hero. He’s a character so likable that it really isn’t fair. All we are left to do is pull for him.
I seriously enjoyed the movie because it has got punch and narrative pizzazz: a strong, clear, instantly graspable storyline