Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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72 of 88 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Epic. Touching. Horrifying. Romantic. Uplifting., December 21, 2008
Slumdog Millionaire deserves a place among the masterpieces of world cinema. Praise is pouring in for this brilliant film, directed by Danny Boyle from a screenplay by Simon Beaufoy adapted from a novel by Vikas Swarup.
The settings move from the bleakest - the slums outside Mumbai, where our hero, Jamal Malik, lives as a child with his older brother Salim - to high rise vistas and no less than the Taj Mahal. The story ranges from the worst despair and heartbreak to the noblest sacrifice and most romantic love.
We are introduced in the opening moments to the young adult Jamal, played by Dev Patel. He is a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and has just answered the ten million rupee question prior to the end of the show. His next question will be worth twenty million rupees, an unimaginable fortune to the average Hindi. The arrogant, primping star of the show, played with artificial charm concealing an oily narcissism by Anil Kapoor, cannot stand that young Jamal is stealing some of his spotlight, and believes that the young, uneducated "slumdog" is cheating. (One of the key sequences involves the host "proving" to himself that Jamal MUST be cheating.) Jamal has been handed over to the police, who torture him to make him confess his deception. This moment in Jamal's life frames the rest of the film, told in flashback, and explains the torturous road that allowed Jamal to answer even the most difficult questions.
We are not told about Jamal and Salim's father, but in an early sequence we see their mother murdered in a brutal religion riot as club-wielding Hindu's attack a Muslim slum. Orphaned, Jamal and Salim live in the trash dump at the edge of the slum. They befriend another orphan, the young girl Latika.
The remainder of the film fills in the gaps of the lives of Jamal and Salim and Latika, who call themselves the Three Musketeers, but only got far enough in school before the murder of their mother to learn the names Athos and Porthos. Along the way they encounter police brutality, orphanage directors who make Fagin and Bill Sykes look like Mother Teresa, as well as Indian gangsters and other people-traffickers. Several sequences show us that Salim is becoming hardened by their harsh life, although he retains a degree of love for Jamal. For his part Jamal makes the most of what life gives him. He only resorts to the criminal activities Salim sees as the only way to make it out of necessity. At two different times Jamal is heart-breakingly separated from Latika, and at one level the entire film is a love story about Jamal's single-minded dedication to reunite with the only girl he ever loved. (Nine astonishing performances are given of the "Three Musketeers" at three different ages of life, and it is appropriate to give credit to Ayush Mahesh Khedekar, Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail and Rubiana Ali as the youngest Jamal, Salim and Latika as well as Tanay Chheda, Ashutosh Lobo Gajiwala and Tanvi Ganesh Lonkar as the just-past-puberty versions. Dev Patel and the beautiful Freida Pinto may become international sensations as the adult star-crossed lovers. Madhur Mittal has less screen time as the adult Salim, but his character plays an important role.)
The faint-hearted should know that the language could appear on American television and that there is no nudity, but the violence, in particular two torture scenes, are flinch-inducing.
Slumdog is a piece of fiction - a fantasy - but it includes real emotions and believable human characters. I walked from the theater feeling a little better about being alive, and knowing that I had just viewed a stunning artistic achievement.
One of the inequities of the movie business is that a film like this can only open in a few theaters in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, and take weeks to arrive at "lesser" destinations like Atlanta and Houston and St. Louis, while Beverly Hills Chihuahua opened nationwide on thousands of screens. I'm just sayin'.
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80 of 103 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This breakthrough film is a true global masterpiece!, November 19, 2008
It's fresh and it's magical and horrific. It's the hero's story of a quest. And it's the story of the city of Mumbai, India, with its vast contrasts of utter poverty in an emerging modern world. It moves with lightning speed and I found myself smiling one minute and grimacing in disgust in another. It's an emotional roller coaster ride that left me exhilarated and convinced that this breakthrough film is a true global masterpiece.
The film opens as a young Indian man competes on a television quiz show. He is winning and winning. In the next scene he is being tortured by the police because they think he is cheating as he is not educated and is a child of the slums. His story is then told in flashbacks, as the audience learns how he came to know the answers to each of the questions.
We meet him and his brother as young children living on the street and exploited by gangsters to become street beggars. However, there is constant humor in juxtaposition to the wince-inducing revulsion which adds a special kind of humanity to the story. Through all the misfortunes to which the brothers are exposed, there is an upbeat quality to the film, as we come to understand that it was these traumatic incidents in this young man's life that taught him the specific answers to the question being asked on the quiz show.
Of course there is also a romance. Our hero is looking for the young woman he loves, a childhood companion through the horror, who is still being exploited by the Indian underworld, which now includes his brother.
All of this is packed in an upbeat and moving story that involved me from the beginning and made me want to stand up and cheer at the happy ending.
This is not a film to be missed. It breaks all the stereotypes and comes across as a groundbreaking fresh new voice in the landscape of the world of film. I give it my highest recommendation.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beyond My Expectations, September 18, 2009
I got around to watching Slumdog Millionaire rather late, having first thought that the Academy was just being kind to Bollywood in a slow year. I was wrong. Slumdog Millionaire is a very well done movie and deserved the Oscar for best picture and cinematography. Throughout the movie you are never really sure whether he is going to get the girl or the money. Both are certainly worth having.
Be aware that this movie is rated R for a reason. The main character is tortured by the police, his mother is killed during a violent rampage against Muslims, his brother becomes an assassin at an early age, and a ruthless organized crime gang intentionally blinds a young boy.
Slumdog is much more edgy than old school Bollywood films like Asoka or Lagaan. It also has better editing. It is not a romantic comedy like Bachna Ae Haseeno. There are no interspersed song and dance numbers throughout the movie. Slumdog has more action and graphic violence than Monsoon Wedding. But it's not quite as deep as Water. The original language is mostly English (not dubbed), so there is no need to read subtitles.
Classic Bollywood Epic: Asoka
Old school Bollywood: Lagaan - Once Upon a Time in India
My intro to Bollywood, recommended: Monsoon Wedding
Big romantic song and dance entertainment: Bachna Ae Haseeno - DVD
Excellent movie, recommended: Gandhi (Widescreen Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
I also recommend this movie: Water
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