Slumdog Millionaire

Not since declaring Finding Neverland the best film of the year back in 2004 have I been so blatantly against The National Board of Review then this year and their official selection of Slumdog Millionaire as the year's finest film. But that is not where the praise for Danny Boyle's latest ends: The Toronto Film Festival's People's Choice Award, the Chicago Film Festival's Audience Choice Award , a Golden Globe nomination for Motion Picture - Drama, and the list of accolades goes on and on. Heck, the audience I saw the film with practically gave the film a standing ovation when the credits began to roll.  Am I missing something? Did we even see the same film?

Based on Q and A, a book written by Vikaspan Swarup, and set in the slums of Mumbai, Slumdog Millionaire follows the fateful journey of one Jamal Malik, a 'slumdog' who has been chosen as a contestant on India's version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.  Against all odds, he has made his way to the final question of the program with twenty million rupees on the line.  The unbelievability of his situation is so much so that he is accused of cheating and arrested by the local authorities.  As the chief investigator says, "doctors, lawyers never get beyond sixty thousand rupees....he's on ten million. What could a slumdog possibly know?".  While in custody, Jamal explains that it was by his own life experiences (presented in the form of flashbacks) and ultimately fate that he had come to learn the answers to those questions and not by any form of dishonesty or deception.

Newcomer, Dev Patel, one of the stars of the television show Skins, plays Jamal and is quite penetrating in a role that asked a lot of him as an young actor and he proved up to the challenge.  Boyle's faith in him surely paid off.  Litika, Jamal's love interest is played by Freida Pinto and while her performance is decent, I can't help think that her ridiculously good looks allowed me to inadvertently overlook some of the flaws in her performance.  The additional supporting performances immersed throughout the film, including Anil Kapoor and Irrfan Khan, are universally solid; with no one giving a spectacular performance, and no one giving a poor one either.

The underlying plot devices propelling Slumdog Millionaire on work quite well.  The interlacing of three separate timelines is never confusing, and the idea of fate controlling our destiny, while done before, does have it's effecting moments in the film, even if its contrived and calculated conclusion does leave much to be desired.  Further dwelling on the ending, it is neither suspenseful nor particularly moving especially for those who have already bought into the film's central themes and ideas. But, the ending is not where the greatest missteps of the film can be found; rather it is in the ninety minutes that precede it.   Much of Slumdog is largely composed of an uneven mixture of fun and exciting sequences followed by several dull, uninvolving, and sometimes off-putting ones.  However, thinking back on the film, there is one sequence that is particularly wonderful involving a young Jamal and his brother being chased through the dilapidated slums of Mumbai to the entrancing music of AR Rahman and M.I.A.. If only the rest of the film was as exhilarating as this moment

The film is in fact much more darker then originally implied in the trailer and tv spots with a suggested teenage rape scene depicted offscreen, forms of torture upon young children, as well as other gang related violence. The slums of Mumbai are illustrated as a brutal environment where gangs, bloodshed, and thievery are forever present.  Several of the earlier scenes even recall Fernando Meirelles's 2002 Brazilian drama, City of God, but to be fair Meirelles's feature is the superior film, not having to rely on a heavy dose of melodramatics to win the audience over, which is the case against Boyle's Slumdog here.

Now, whether it be images of the deserted London skyline in 28 Days Later, the lush rural landscape in Millions, or the panning shots around the Icarus II in Sunshine, one thing about Danny Boyle is that his work always features an extraordinary visual flare.  Slumdog is no different, as there are several sequences where the combination of colours represent a feast for our eyes.  However equally, there are scenes within the film where the visuals feel overdone to excess, sometimes making Slumdog feel more like a two hour music video than a feature film.

                 

Slumdog Millionaire does have a lot going for it, but ultimately it is an overly stylized melodramatic piece of cinematic mediocrity with a manipulative happy ending that tries to evoke an emotional response out of its audience that in all honesty it really doesn't deserve.  ~ 5.5

Christopher Misch

Next Projection, Managing Editor and Contributor