Written by Vikas Swarup (novel) and Simon Beaufoy (screenplay)
Directed by Danny Boyle and Loveleen Tandan (co-director: India)
Awards, 8 Oscars as well as 71 other awards and 26 nominations (see here for complete list)
Released: 23 January 2009 (USA)
The Mumbai slums kid Jamal K. Malik (actor Dev Patel), possesses only the answers- nothing more. He is honest even if it will kill him despite his harsh life experiences. Jamal makes it to the Indian version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?". The film flashes back and forth between how he knows the answers, each being a gruesome experience (death, tyranny, betrayal) but each enables him to commit a fact to memory thus enabling him to answer another question correctly. Because of his success on the TV show his is thought to be a fraud, a cheat. For that reason he is interrogated, and with each blow any onlooker (as well as the interrogators) can see that this is no regular teen, his inner strength awes with a jaw-dropping force.
Love is a key element in Slumdog Millionaire. Jamal is loyal and faithful in his pursuit of one unattainable girl Latika (Actress Frieda Pinto)as children, as youths and still as teens. He encounters her over and over throughout their young lives only to have her taken from him just a second too soon. Are they meant to be, is it destiny?
I saw this movie almost a week ago and I can't stop thinking about it. I can't. I loved it on so many levels. I hated the violence, and it wasn't Hollywood violence, it was street kid raw gore. I disliked the villains in this film and that they made it their life goal to destroy Jamal, who I loved from the first second I saw him. As harsh as his past is, he becomes beautiful despite it, I am a believer. Oh, and the music is really fun!
Slumdog Millionaire easily earns a full-on 100% recommendation from me. I saw it in the theater and I will buy it when I see it out on DVD. My only slight warning is that if you can't handle violence, well you still should go, just be sure to cover your eyes, and go with someone who can nudge you when it is time to look again. It didn't bother me, but I was allowed to watch Die Hard as a 7-year-old. It is written: THIS IS AN ABSOLUTE MUST SEE.
Slumdog Millionaire trailer:
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1 comment:
I absolutely loved this film. The cinematography was awesome, and I like that it still had its Bollywood touch yet a more westerner length in film time. I saw a Bollywood film in India that had a tea (chat) time intermission as it lasted almost 3 hours... normal for Telegu (language/race in India) films. Though the violence they showed is devastating (kid street violence) I am sure they lightly brushed how awful it really is. This was also in an opinion of a woman I met that runs a 500+ child orphanage in South India. Most children I met were fostered by abandonment, saved from sexual slavery (forced mostly by parents to raise money from food to ipods, etc), left from parents dying/ who died of aids, or reasons unknown (example: infant found in garbage heap). The blinding of the children in the film is horrific... but at the same time needs to be seen by the western culture, the more "richer" culture- to shed some light on what happens in the shadows for many children in places like India, for others to make a buck. I hope that the film is not only seen as an amazing story, with wonderful song, and colorful detail, but also as TRUTH... of how it actually IS for these like children. I totally agree with Bethany and give this film a "must see thumbs up". It is rich, leaves your mind pondering on it for more then just a day- and for reasons outside of anything but just a film, and for me it was personally inspiring.
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