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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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- lucy annamarie ema louis said...
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Posted on Mar 14 2009 11:52
Slumdog Million seems to press the buttons of unfair judgement of the people of the slums, the feeling as you watch the movie is melancholy yet inspiring, quite fantastic but a hint of depression seeps through as your eyes touch the screen with deep emotion. See it if you care for those in the slums, if you have no care for tem, i wouldnt bother,
yours Lucy Annamarie Ema Louis - Report as inappropriate
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- helpless said...
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Posted on Mar 13 2009 14:40
I was going to see the film until I read some of the comments.m Personally I hate to see any child unhappy
even if it is in a film,and I have read enough to know about it. What surprises me is that not one person suggested that all the profits should go to the slum to benifit the children and people of the slum.That is a film I would love to see.Perhaps some body will. - Report as inappropriate
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- John said...
- Posted on Mar 12 2009 15:26 Politically correct, over rated, monotonous pap. Not impressed as I had read so many good reviews but you are clearly all unimaginative drones who wouldn't know a good movie if it slapped you in the face!
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- angel said...
- Posted on Mar 12 2009 12:09 hey chappti king, not heard from u for awhile,received no reply, for recent message. what up are you to busy with your chappti queen.
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- David said...
- Posted on Mar 11 2009 02:17 Make no mistake this is outstanding piece of work from Danny Boyle - right up there with the best of breed in extracting superb performances from child actors - e.g. Bugsy Malone. Don't be deceived into thinking it is a "feegood movie" as some critics have suggested - it is very dark and Boyle has mesages about exploitation of man that resonate throughout history. What makes it such a 'crowd pleaser' is a brilliant story coupled with outstanding cinephotography that keeps you awake form start to finish. A masterpiece but it would not endear you to visit India.
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- Reet said...
- Posted on Mar 09 2009 22:38 If this film shows how things are for the poor in India, then why oh why aren't the wealthy of that country doing something about it. It is a masterpiece, thought provoking and extremely emotional, but with such a happy ending. I loved it.
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- ANON said...
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Posted on Mar 09 2009 12:22
this film jus copyed WHO WANTS TO BE MILLIONAIRE... cum up wit sumthin new guise JEEZ LOUISE...
RLY BAD... wasted ma monies on tickets V ANGRY SAD FACE
>:-O - Report as inappropriate
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- ANON said...
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Posted on Mar 09 2009 12:22
this film jus copyed WHO WANTS TO BE MILLIONAIRE... cum up wit sumthin new guise JEEZ LOUISE...
RLY BAD... wasted ma monies on tickets V ANGRY SAD FACE
>:-O - Report as inappropriate
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- angel said...
- Posted on Mar 09 2009 12:13 chappti king, not if slumdog 2 is good as slumdog 1. who is boy you are talking about?Who is your chappti queen?
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- CHAPATI KING said...
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Posted on Mar 08 2009 20:18
One thousand and one apologies to you, Keema, but my heart is spoken for already. There is room only for one Chapati Queen. Brick Lane for you my darlin.
Angel - Slumdog 2 - boy will invest money in British Bank and go broke. Boy to appear on Stars in eyes and win again. The rest of film I am writing soon. One million blessings to all readers of Time Out. We must meet soon and break some platonic Roti together. - Report as inappropriate
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- lil mizz madam said...
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Posted on Mar 08 2009 19:18
OMG i felt like flipin crying sooo sad an so sweet i luved every min!!! man i gota say it waz like da bes bludy movie i eva saw Danny boyle is like a star man so gud u shud really watch it.It toatally ROCKS (LOL)!!!.
lil mizz madam
xxx - Report as inappropriate
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- lil mizz madam said...
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Posted on Mar 08 2009 19:18
OMG i felt like flipin crying sooo sad an so sweet i luved every min!!! man i gota say it waz like da bes bludy movie i eva saw Danny boyle is like a star man so gud u shud really watch it.It toatally ROCKS (LOL)!!!.
lil mizz madam
xxx - Report as inappropriate
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- john t said...
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Posted on Mar 08 2009 15:27
mment you type in this box will appear on the site
yeah - Report as inappropriate
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- Keema Naan Queen said...
- Posted on Mar 08 2009 15:16 Hi Chapati, you sound like a real cool dudey fancy getting together to work on the plot of your new movie.
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- angel said...
- Posted on Mar 08 2009 13:33 hey chappati king were speaking the same lanuage now, what you said is so right, but nothing can be done.Looking forward to slumdog 2 though, i didnt know you made movies, or are you taking the piss again. anway love and peace to you my friend.
- Report as inappropriate
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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