There is an expectation that the film awarded the Best Picture each year at the Academy Awards is going to have a reasonable stake to be just that, the best picture of the year. And this year as in several others – I’m looking in your direction big boat movie and southern retard film – the Academy of motion pictures stuffed it up. That’s not to say that Slumdog Millionaire is a bad film, in fact it’s a very good film, just not as good, in my opinion as Frost/Nixon. Slumdog Millionaire tells the story of Jamal who as the film opens is being interrogated for suspected cheating on Who Wants to be a Millionaire – thankfully the Indian version as I couldn’t do with anymore Eddie Maguire. The story on how he knew the answers to all of the questions are told in flashback, extracting emotion from each one, until we find out exactly how this ’slumdog’ rose from zero to almost conquering hero in a small matter of time. Interwoven with this story is the love triangle between Jamal, his brother Salim and the beautiful Latika, who unfortunately is used as a pawn in Indian society. The film progresses rather predictably towards a bit of an all singing all dancing finale. If this sounds like its Hollywood doing Bollywood, you’re just about spot on.
hat said, the direction from Danny Boyle (Trainspotting) is excellent and the young cast are doing a fantastic job of making you feel every moment of their love, pain and triumph at seeing this one through. Slumdog Millionaire is in interesting film, as like Gump it rewards the underdog. You can actually smell the shit rising off the streets. All of that said though, Slumdog is far from the greatest film of 2008, and shouldn’t be lauded as such. But, if you want an entertaining couple of hours with a bit of singing thrown in, Slumdog is just the ticket.
