Slumdog MillionaireRated R
Running time: 2 hrs
Cast:
Dev Patel
Anil Kapoor
Irfan Khan
Critical Consensus:
**** out of *****
(93% Fresh Rating!)
Mikey @ The Movies Official Rating:
***** out of *****
The Premise:
The story of how impoverished Indian teen Jamal Malik became a contestant on the Hindi version of "Who Wants to be A Millionaire?" -- an endeavor made without prize money in mind, rather, an effort to prove his love for his friend Latika, who is an ardent fan of the show.
MY REVIEW
I might get hated on for saying this, but I have to say it. I think I have to jump off The Dark Knight train and board the train of love for Slumdog Millionaire. This is truly the feel good, awe inspiring motion picture of the year. It is a brilliant film. I honestly didn't think I could find it in me to enjoy a movie like this, but man am I glad I was wrong. This film packs in a lot of different emotions, and still has a fantastically happy conclusion.
What I thought was really cool was how the movie was centered. The main character Jamal played very well by Dev Patel, is on the Hindi version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? He is a young teen, and we are told that no one has ever walked away with the grand prize of 20 million rupees. First we see him being tortured by police because they believe he cheated to get as far as he did on the program and they want the truth. We seem them play back the tape of the show, and then they interrogate him after every question he got right. They want to know how he knew if he wasn't cheating. The wonderful aspect of this film is fate. For every question Jamal is asked, we get a flashback of his past showing us exactly why he knows the answer.
There's a lot of story packed into this film, and I won't go into it. But we see Jamal's life with his mother before she is killed. Then we see his life with his older brother while they are living for themselves. We also see how he meets a beautiful young girl named Latika who he kind of starts to have a little "thing" for. Something happens, and they are forced to go their separate ways creating a story of finding a lost love. It's a story about him trying to find himself, and what his purpose is. But the deep underlining story is about destiny. Destiny showed him the answers to those questions on the game show. Destiny brought him to where he ends up in the final moments of the film. A lot of us may not believe in destiny, but Jamal does and he made me a believer! The movie, and these characters just bring such a genuine smile to an audiences face and I just loved that!
But it isn't just this fantasy type story, there are some very real elements to it. We get a look into the life of parts of India and it's harsh more so than I think people realize. My gosh, there were so many children running free and fending for themselves for food and shelter and clothes. Now I don't know how exact that is to real life in India, but I can imagine it's at least pretty darn close. But that's another reason why this movie is so unbelievable. Jamal as a young boy (played really greatly by Ayush Mahesh Khedekar) struggles not only with his controlling older brother, and the inner emotional feelings he has for Latika, but also just struggles to live. This film tells a very powerful and incredibly moving story about one boy's fate and destiny and how he believes so much in those things that it get's him by even in the extremely rough times. And I would just like to say the Dev Patel delivers a very simplistic performance, but it somehow manages to be quite superb and very memorable for me.
And it isn't just the amazing story and great performances, the movie has so much more to offer. The musical score is sometimes just as powerful as the story! But it never is overpowering. It really brings out the emotions of the film and it's almost a rare things these days when music can do that in film. A good musical score is very valuable in film. It can make or break a movie sometimes. The movie was already fantastic, and the score just added so much awesomeness to the table! The cinematography was also some of the best I've seen this year. Slumdog Millionaire was an perfectly crafted film.
I don't know if we will ever see a film like this again. There is no grave importance in it's story because it may be an over the top tale of fate and destiny. But regardless it's a movie that makes us think and does deliver a powerful but spiritual message. What if everything does happen for a reason? What if you really are supposed to be where you are in life? We are put on a path for our lives to go, and it's up to us to decide if it's the right path. If we decide to stay on the right path, than maybe fate really is what lies ahead. Maybe everything that happens on that path is in fact your destiny that was all mapped out for you. This movie kind of made me learn to not take everything for granted. It showed me to open my eyes and really see the signs that lay before me. Jamal did it right? And even though it's a film and a borderline fantasy, why can't fate and destiny be a part of my life?
Slumdog Millionaire is the most inspirational film of 2008 for me. Slumdog Millionaire is at the point, the best film of 2008. I urge you to go see it.
What I thought was really cool was how the movie was centered. The main character Jamal played very well by Dev Patel, is on the Hindi version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? He is a young teen, and we are told that no one has ever walked away with the grand prize of 20 million rupees. First we see him being tortured by police because they believe he cheated to get as far as he did on the program and they want the truth. We seem them play back the tape of the show, and then they interrogate him after every question he got right. They want to know how he knew if he wasn't cheating. The wonderful aspect of this film is fate. For every question Jamal is asked, we get a flashback of his past showing us exactly why he knows the answer.
There's a lot of story packed into this film, and I won't go into it. But we see Jamal's life with his mother before she is killed. Then we see his life with his older brother while they are living for themselves. We also see how he meets a beautiful young girl named Latika who he kind of starts to have a little "thing" for. Something happens, and they are forced to go their separate ways creating a story of finding a lost love. It's a story about him trying to find himself, and what his purpose is. But the deep underlining story is about destiny. Destiny showed him the answers to those questions on the game show. Destiny brought him to where he ends up in the final moments of the film. A lot of us may not believe in destiny, but Jamal does and he made me a believer! The movie, and these characters just bring such a genuine smile to an audiences face and I just loved that!
But it isn't just this fantasy type story, there are some very real elements to it. We get a look into the life of parts of India and it's harsh more so than I think people realize. My gosh, there were so many children running free and fending for themselves for food and shelter and clothes. Now I don't know how exact that is to real life in India, but I can imagine it's at least pretty darn close. But that's another reason why this movie is so unbelievable. Jamal as a young boy (played really greatly by Ayush Mahesh Khedekar) struggles not only with his controlling older brother, and the inner emotional feelings he has for Latika, but also just struggles to live. This film tells a very powerful and incredibly moving story about one boy's fate and destiny and how he believes so much in those things that it get's him by even in the extremely rough times. And I would just like to say the Dev Patel delivers a very simplistic performance, but it somehow manages to be quite superb and very memorable for me.
And it isn't just the amazing story and great performances, the movie has so much more to offer. The musical score is sometimes just as powerful as the story! But it never is overpowering. It really brings out the emotions of the film and it's almost a rare things these days when music can do that in film. A good musical score is very valuable in film. It can make or break a movie sometimes. The movie was already fantastic, and the score just added so much awesomeness to the table! The cinematography was also some of the best I've seen this year. Slumdog Millionaire was an perfectly crafted film.
I don't know if we will ever see a film like this again. There is no grave importance in it's story because it may be an over the top tale of fate and destiny. But regardless it's a movie that makes us think and does deliver a powerful but spiritual message. What if everything does happen for a reason? What if you really are supposed to be where you are in life? We are put on a path for our lives to go, and it's up to us to decide if it's the right path. If we decide to stay on the right path, than maybe fate really is what lies ahead. Maybe everything that happens on that path is in fact your destiny that was all mapped out for you. This movie kind of made me learn to not take everything for granted. It showed me to open my eyes and really see the signs that lay before me. Jamal did it right? And even though it's a film and a borderline fantasy, why can't fate and destiny be a part of my life?
Slumdog Millionaire is the most inspirational film of 2008 for me. Slumdog Millionaire is at the point, the best film of 2008. I urge you to go see it.
To view this film's theatrical trailer, click this link: Slumdog Millionaire
*This is the 167th new film I've seen and reviewed this year.
I think that watching this movie will be a great fun. After reading your post I am excited and can't wait for more and will look for this movie online.
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