Directed by Danny Boyle
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Slumdog Millionaire What in the world is Danny Boyle doing making a film in India, after his string of British Isles hits (“Millions,” “28 Days Later,” “Trainspotting”)? I don’t know and frankly I’m just glad that he’s turned his attention to India. “Slumdog Millionaire” combines the heartbreak of Louis Malle’s “Calcutta” and the documentary “Born Into Brothels” with the joie de vivre of a Bollywood musical. From a novel by the Indian writer Vikas Swarup and with a script
by Simon Beaufoy, Boyle has made a picture that
captures both the beauty and the beastiality of
India today. A young man, Jamal
(Dev Patel), a chai wallah
(he gets tea for workers at a call center) is a contestant on the Indian
version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” How did he get there and how is it he
can answer so many questions correctly?
The film will show us. The film takes us back through flashbacks to his
life as an orphan in the slums of Bombay. He and his older brother, and
another orphan, Latika, a beautiful young girl who
grows into a beautiful young woman, are like so many millions of other Indian
orphans; they can die like that, or find a way to survive. As we watch them they support each
other through some horrendous experiences. But at the same time they have great
pluck – and luck – so that what might be a story too depressing
to watch becomes a kind of triumph. They run from one disaster, an almost unwatchable
version of the Oliver Twist story, to a witty triumph, where Jamal, seeing
the Taj Mahal for the
first time, quickly becomes a tourist guide for Europeans and Americans,
telling whatever lies he finds convenient. As the tourists take their shoes off,
he finds a pair for himself and takes it. Every experience turns into another
question at the quiz show as his winnings grow. And every flashback as he grows from
childhood to adolescence to adulthood (played by three wonderful
non-professional actors) gives us more and more of the flavor, if
that’s not too mild a word, of both the horror and the wit of his life. Boyle has found a way to capture both the horror
and the glory of India, as seen by a film that veers between one and the Bollywood version of the other. There’s even a closing dance
over the end credits that will have you swaying in your seat. It’s a brave and wonderfully
successful film ! |