Slumdog Millionaire Synopsis: When a young man is accused of cheating on the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionare he must prove to the police that he is not a cheater by sharing the life experiences that show where he acquired the knowledge.
Release Date: November 14, 2008 MPAA Rating: PG-13
Genre(s): Drama, Romance
Film Review
Production
As Slumdog Millionaire weaves between the present and the past you are fully engaged in the character’s life experiences and how through them he is able to answer his questions correctly to win the grand prize. The movie moves with perfect momentum and with such intimacy you never feel you are watching a film but instead, you are experiencing it; the triumphs, the tragedy and the comedy that lives within the story.
Acting
Slumdog Millionaire is composed of a very large cast, but not separate characters. Instead, you watch the same characters grow from children to adults. It is the collection of all these actors that make this film great. From the small children of no more than six years old witnessing the horrors of the slums and displaying the emotions that come with being forced to grow up before one’s time. Or the barely pre-teen kids who are in no way strangers to hardship and longing and love; and the adults, who find themselves in situations one can only imagine and with nothing but hope to guide them through. Not all of the performances may be as strong as others but as a whole they are remarkable.
Score and Soundtrack
The music in Slumdog Millionaire is intoxicating. It melds together the classic Bollywood sound with modern day urban hip-hop and does so meticulously. Every song corresponds to the action so impeccably well that it intensifies the moments on screen. It is also very loud; loud like the city of Mumbai, loud like the children running through the streets, loud like the poverty that is not spoken of but seen through the camera lens throughout the film. The music in this film is a marvel and shows what a strong force it may be in cinema.
Directing
Danny Boyle has brought to life an exceptional film in Slumdog Millionaire through his intricate direction. Dealing with a subject matter that could easily have come across to the audience as depressing, sad and dismal, Boyle instead gave it a lighter tone for a large duration and emphasized the bond between brothers and the ability to love even in the most dire situations. It is with his direction that the story unfolds more visually than through the writing. A combination of editing, cinematography, music, and performance that he has blended together to create a world where one laughs, cries and undeniably believes in hope.
Cast and Crew
- Director(s): Danny Boyle
- Screenwriter: Simon Beaufoy
- Cast: Dev Patel (Jamal Malik), Anil Kapoor (Prem Kumar), Saurabh Shukla (Sergeant Srinivas), Freida Pinto (Latika)
- Editor: Chris Dickens
- Cinematographer: A.R. Rahman
- Country Of Origin: UK, USA
