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| Theatrical Release Poster |
Slumdog Millionaire is a rare film in the fact that it is very feel good and moving but at the same time extremely tense and paints a very good picture of extreme poverty in India. Comparisons with Danny Boyle's previous film trainspotting are inevitable in its simultaneously bleak but optimistic picture of poverty.
The films protagonist is Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) who competes on the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? Due to his background as a street urchin or slum-dog he is arrested on suspicion of cheating. In order to clear his name much of the film is told in flashbacks as Jamal tells the police how he came to know the answers.
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| Dev Patel as Jamal |
So let me start by saying that this film was a lot better than I was expecting. I thought it would be a rather naive rag to riches tale but in fact it showed the poverty in India very well but at the same time was uplifting. However, it does have some flaws. So firstly there is some questionably dialogue in place such as 'We are destined to be together' which made me cringe no end. Some of the characterisation was also pretty basic, with there being several just straight bad guys. Now obviously that is necessary for the plot and isn't too major an issue but still, human beings are never all bad so I would've liked to see some more complex characters. Another flaw is the quite heavy handed theme of destiny with the beginning shots asking why Jamal won in Who Wants To Be A Millionaire style with 4 answers with letter D being 'Destiny'. This whole idea of destiny was made insultingly obvious and just felt cringe inducing and out of place in this otherwise very good film.
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| Danny Boyle, the director of Slumdog Millionaire |
Now onto the good things. Well all the performances are good, with special praise going to the very solid child actors. The presentation of poverty is also well done. Striking enough to make the average well off western viewer feel uncomfortable and to show the class divide inherent in India but also not so depressing that the film is prevented from being uplifting which leads me onto my next point. Through the use of well developed character arcs, a well thought out, moving and fairly realistic love story and a tense climax followed by a well done resolution the film manages to be engrossing and uplifting. The relationship between the 3 main characters of Jamal, Latika (Freida Pinto) and Salim (Madhur Mittal) feel realistic, are well developed and are moving. The love story, although slightly ridiculous at times and predictable at others is well done and such is the attachment to the characters that it makes even a stony hearted guy like me feel warm inside. Technical wise it is fine -there are some nice shots although during the opening stage there was a bit of an overuse of side shots. But this is a Danny Boyle film, it is of course fine technically.
In terms of a comparison with Trainspotting both films depict extreme poverty and an individuals struggle to get out of it after falling into ill habits- in Slumdog Millionaire Jamal's struggle to get out of the slums after his involvement in crime and his friend Salim's gang experience, and in trainspotting Mark Renton trying to leave his drug addled life behind him.
So in conclusion this film serves as both an uplifting, moving and tense drama as well as offering a striking presentation of poverty in India.
Ratings: Entertainment: 9 Technical: 4 Intelligence: 3= 16/20 ****
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