Slumdog Millionaire Review

If you’d have said to me a year ago, your going to go see a Bollywood film about Who Wants to be a Millionaire, I would probably have slapped you. (just for the record, that WAS NOT a dig at Bollywood Films, it was a dig at Chris Tarrant)

Synopsis – A young boy from the slums of Mumbai manages to get to the last question for 20 Million Rupees on India’s version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. The film is the story of how he knows the answers to all the questions.

My Reaction – Why did they have to ruin a top film with the dance in the credits!

Plot – A very clever plot, which moves with ease through different times of the main characters life. It gave a very plausible story to how this young boy knows all the answers. (Just so you know, the Indian version is much much harder with most people leaving at the equivalent point of £16,000).

Acting – Excellent performances from a mainly very young cast. The three main characters – Jamal, his brother and his love interest are all portrayed by three different actors, one when they are all around 7 and 8, one when they are all young teenagers, and one as young adults (18 – 20). Not one of these actors lets their character down. The supporting cast all back them up with thorough turns too.

Cinematography – The back drop to the plot is the Mumbai slums. It isn’t some ice planet, never ending forest or a large scale oceanic attempt. Despite this you still feel like you are watching something rather epic in these thousands of communities. The close / hand held camera shots compliment the setting perfectly.

Direction – This has to be Danny Boyles best since Trainspotting, possibly even better because there has been a lot of hype around this film, and it is deserved. Whilst I’ll admit that I haven’t seen all the films which have best director nods at the Oscars yet, I think Mr Boyle deserves it for the sheer scale of the task he set himself. Well played Danny boy!

Best Bit – The random attempt at familiarity with a Scottish woman, whilst Jamal is covering for a colleague in a call centre!

To Sum Up – A must see. Multi Oscar nominated films tend to lean to the depressing stories, but not this. Brilliant direction, brilliant acting, brilliant story. The tag line is correct – “The feel good film of the decade”

Score – I wasn’t expecting to give it this but - 8.7 thumbs up out of 10. (it lost 1.3 for the silly dance, sorry not my cup of tea!)