Slumdog Millionaire
Watching this movie, it’s pretty easy to see why the “Bollywood” style of uplifting yet shallow musicals is so popular in the country of India, since people there want to see an artificial world where everything is beautiful as opposed to the reality most of them live in. Here, director Danny Boyle tries to have it both ways, telling an almost fantastical fairy tale while at the same time depicting the wretched squalor that the people live in, and it’s truly an uneasy mix, brought along by the story’s structure: An uneducated young man appears on that country’s version of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” and deftly answers each question on his way to the grand prize, with each correct answer leading to a flashback during his life where he coincidentally gained the trivial knowledge that led to each response. As a result, he is jailed for fraud and subsequently beaten and tortured in order to confess that he was cheating (imagine what they’d do if he were a terrorist). In the lead role, Dev Patel has a bit of presence, though not being a native of India (he’s originally from the U.K.), he occasionally slips up and speaks in an inappropriate British accent. In truth, it’s not really him who carries the film, but rather the child actors who play him and his brother throughout the flashbacks. Real-life slum children that they are, their acting is passable at best, though this viewer was more hoping they were fed well on set than what the outcome of their story was. Along the way, we witness various atrocities that these people go through every day, including but not limited to, outhouses that one must pay to use, senseless riots based on differences of religion (“They’re Muslims! Kill them!”), the horrid abuse and mutilation of orphaned street children (including one who has his eyes burned out so that he’d make more money on the streets begging), child prostitution rings, and the non-stop ripping off of American tourists of their money and belongings. Much of this material packs a real punch (and makes one appreciate being born and raised in America), but other bits (like the main character seeing either a vision or a kid dressed as Rama in an alley out of the blue, leading to another correct answer) are just dumb. Among the actors, Anil Kapoor scores some points as the slimy, aloof game show host, and the scene where he tries to bait Patel into giving a wrong answer but gets sniffed out instead is perhaps the best in the movie; Ankur Vikal as the sadistic orphanage owner is frightingly evil and makes an impression with limited screen time; and Frieda Pinto as the girl Patel loves and is doing everything for is beautiful and luminous, though that leads to the biggest problem: As ¾ of the story shows the child actors playing the main characters, when Pinto and Patel finally have some romantic scenes together, the viewer feels disconnected somewhat from them, as neither performer is given enough time to build any chemistry with the other in the last 25 minutes of the film. Also, when Boyle goes for the fairy tale ending, he resorts to cheap sentiment and contrived situations (will she or won’t she answer the phone in time??) to try and move the audience but ultimately falls flat. In the end, a noble effort with some strong moments and good acting, but not the best picture of the year that we were reminded that it was constantly…
5/10