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Bookmark this pageSlumdog Millionaire (2008)
Director: Danny Boyle
Movie review
From Time Out London
Danny Boyle’s ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ is a film so upbeat and colourful that, by the time you’re relaying its infectious air of optimism to friends, you could forget that it features orphans, slaughter, organised crime, poverty, enslavement and police brutality in its crowd-pleasing repertoire of suffering and renewal. Hell, it even ends with a get-up-and-dance Bollywood number on the platform of Mumbai’s Victoria Terminus.Shot entirely in India and largely on location, the fabric of the film is winningly realistic. But the story is pure fantasy inspired partly by co-producer Celador’s desire to enshrine its winning creation, the game show ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire?’ in a movie.Still, Boyle succeeds in leaving these creepy beginnings behind to create a film that’s full of warmth and humanity and forever looks on the bright side of tragedy. The script is a simple conceit: writer Simon Beaufoy (‘The Full Monty’) has ripped up Vikas Swarup’s novel ‘Q&A’ and turned it into a rags-to-riches yarn about Jamal (Dev Patel), a young, slum-born adult in Mumbai who gives such a cracking performance on ‘…Millionaire’, that he’s only one question shy of the 20-million-rupee jackpot. Such unlikely success inspires envy on the part of the show’s creepy host (Anil Kapoor), who invites the police to arrest, question and torture him. This interrogation offers flashbacks of episodes in Jamal’s life that reveal the extraordinary sources of his knowledge and lend Boyle the handy framework of a child becoming an adult against all the odds in an India that’s changing by the hour but still dangerous for any kid on the loose.
Of all Boyle’s mixed work, from the promise of ‘Shallow Grave’ to the embarrassment of ‘Millions’ and the recent experiment of ‘Sunshine’, his new film probably best resembles ‘Trainspotting’: where in that film he found energy, humour and bonhomie in the stupor of heroin addiction, here he takes the impoverished life of a young Indian and spins it into an escapist fairytale steeped in the sights and sounds of the new India. By the time Jamal gets his girl – ultimately and simplistically it’s a romance – and everyone’s tapping their feet, you’ll have forgotten that one of his young friends was blinded and another sold into prostitution. You may also forgive some of the plot’s wilder turns and increasingly erratic jumps in time.
Boyle flirts with realism but never fully buys into it.
He’s too concerned with keeping the mood light and the pace furious. He’s a flashy filmmaker at times, but the real saving grace of ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ is how Boyle and cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle go to extreme and pleasing lengths to soak up the colours, people and places of India. The film’s messages – that hard-earned street knowledge can be as valuable as traditional education and, while hardly original, that later success can overcome earlier hardship – are attractive if you’re willing to bite your tongue at the air of positivity. With so much good humour about you can even forgive the film’s bizarre slip from one language to another as young Indian actors give way to a warm, English-language performance from Britain’s Patel, who’s just one of a cast of actors who are as likeable and compelling as the film itself.
Author: Dave Calhoun
Time Out London Issue 2003, 8 - 14 Jan, 2009
User reviews of this film
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- What a neat article. I ha said...
- Posted on Jan 24 2012 12:20 What a neat article. I had no inknlig.
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- You've raelly impressed m said...
- Posted on Jan 22 2012 00:32 You've raelly impressed me with that answer!
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- manjeet said...
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Posted on Jun 28 2011 20:48
Passionate About India: Don't see “Slumdog ... - Arindam Chaudhuri
25 Jan 2009 – Arimdam, Thank you for your blog and am glad someone else felt the same as I did after watching the movie. I am a proud India expat working ...
arindamchaudhuri.blogspot.com/.../dont-see-slumdog-millionaire-it-sucks.html - Report as inappropriate
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- Suzz said...
- Posted on Dec 07 2010 19:13 Without a doubt the best film I have ever seen including a pulsing, compelling soudtrack! Beatutiful cinematography throughout, a captivating film featuring gritty realism yet awe-inspiring romance. it crosses every genre including; rom-com, bollywood, cultural examination and drama- cannot be pigeon-holed. But as for being negative towards India- yes, it INSTRUCTS as far as the slums, prostitution etc. is concerned, but to me anyway, it shows India as a vibrant, colourful, fast-moving, hope-filled place. Danny Boyle and Loveleen Tandan have taken the Indian version of the British franchise show "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" and weaved it enchantingly with interrogation and flashbacks forming the adrenaline-fuelled, turbulent yet picturesque film that it is- a credit to Boyle, Tandan and Mumbai. Flaws? In no way is it a "Family feel-good" as labelled and characters are generally uncomplex. Overall however, deserving of the 8 Academy Awards and 7 BAFTAs. A film I would recommend to aanyone and everyone, best film, in my opinion, of the decade at the very least!!!
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- AD said...
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Posted on May 30 2010 15:24
Shows India in such poor light. EVERYTHING, I mean every little thing in this movie shows India in a bad light. Its almost offensive.
Read the following and tell me if I am just being defensive because it shows the -ve points abt my country:
- The biggest & most respected Indian actor 'Amitabh Bacchan' portrayed almost like a joke - featuring tacky colorful clips of his movies with crazy music
- Slums stricken with extreme poverty, kids jumping into pools of human-excreta
- The host (of Millionaire) is a mean-little bastard and the show seems to be a cheap copy of ABC's popular show Millionaire, in a 3rd world country - with the host running the show as he pleases
- The police are corrupt and chillingly brutal
- The teachers are merciless, literally everybody seems to be so completely brutal and heartless
- The riots and the killing of the mother
- The blinding of the beggars
- Prostitution of small girls
- The kids stealing food in the trains, cheating and stealing from tourists, cars being looted completely empty when left unattended, and much more...
- The criminal underbelly, a city full of unchecked crime and utter-chaos. Goons running wild without check
- The call-centers
- Foolish looking Indians
Can you point out a single thing that shows something 'good' or even 'normal' about India.
And when you read comments like :
"Makes me not-want-to-go-to-India after watching this movie..."
I think it validates my concern and adds to the point I am trying to make. The portrayal of India is a bit degrading in the movie. No wonder so many Indians voiced their opinions abt it.
Frankly I am not too concerned. Cuase its just a movie and we don't give a damn abt what anybody thinks. But just the other day was watching this on TV and my mom pointed out, it shows all -ve abt India. And I thought that was not right. So just voicing my opinion here.
Its like portraying the west as a greedy-materialistic place with shallow-superficial-greedy people, cities full of wealth but lacking in sole. True to some extent, but not completely accurate.
With everything said I liked the movie and have seen it several times - its different and was better than I imagined. - Report as inappropriate
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- jhon said...
- Posted on Apr 23 2010 10:01 carole you are talking a load of rubbish this is actually how it is in india you think it is sick and wrong but this is how it actually is but you just dont want to see it as it is they do live in tin huts and do poverty porn because there is no money over ther so go get a life and start living in the real world
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- Esalagi said...
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Posted on Mar 04 2010 12:03
hello, slumdog millinaire gud :)
i lyked veri much
bye bishiz - Report as inappropriate
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- panky said...
- Posted on Feb 17 2010 20:27 Certainly not a feelgood film. Noisy, energetic, fast-moving and colourful, yes, but how can so much cruelty and misery leave anyone feeling good?
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- skeptikal said...
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Posted on Aug 26 2009 14:13
DONT EXPECT MUCH IN ORDER TO ENJOY. To put it simply is a cartoon rollercoaster of cheap emotions that you forget within a couple of hours.
I would not give one star because is a film that was watchable for those 2 hours, in hollywood terms, of course by no stretch of imagination it is a great film or art work or significant for any other reason than its inexplicable popularity among your average low-brow cinema goer.
The only thing I remember now, a month later is a feeling of frustration "what the hell was all the fuss about" and I remember a very hot Asian chick that I would never understood what she found to that dumbo eared skinny laddy. A yes, maybe the miillions made the difference. Nothing else. Totally indifferent. - Report as inappropriate
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- Bill_D said...
- Posted on Jun 12 2009 23:23 A lively, colourful and clever story with excellent camerawork, to be sure, and it's good that contemporary India, a country so on the up, is featured in a mainstream Western film, but I'm surprised the always brief scenes and constant sensationalising haven't annoyed more people without a short attention span.
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- Matthew said...
- Posted on Jun 08 2009 12:11 Amazing!
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- Matthew said...
- Posted on Jun 08 2009 12:11 Amazing!
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- Matthew said...
- Posted on Jun 08 2009 12:11 Amazing!
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- Matthew said...
- Posted on Jun 08 2009 12:09 One of the best films i have ever seen...
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- Rory said...
- Posted on Jun 07 2009 16:55 WOW!
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Cast & crew
Director: Danny Boyle
Cast: Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Anil Kapoor, Irfan Khan, Madhur Mittal full cast
Rated: 15
Duration: 110 mins
UK Release: Jan 23 2009
US Release: Nov 13 2008
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