By Neil Pond
American Profile
December 31, 2008 01:41 pm
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An orphan boy from the ghettos of India grows up to bust the bank on his country’s version of the TV game show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.” How did this “slumdog” do it? Was it genius? Was it cheating? Was it written in the stars?
That’s the premise of “Slumdog Millionaire,” the riveting new movie from British director Danny Boyle (based on a 2005 novel) with an all-Indian cast of unknown actors. This international underdog tale has become a surprise hit in America, and justifiably so — it’s full of vitality, brimming with excitement and bursting with heart.
We follow the story of Jamal Malick (Patel), a tossed-about ragamuffin whose life of shocking harshness and hardship has led him to a most improbable spot. In front a cheering “Millionaire” audience in a television studio, he’s on his way to winning an astronomical haul of 20 million rupees by answering each question correctly over the course of two days.
The host of the show smells a rat. So do the local police. How could a lowly slumdog know which U.S. President’s face is on a $100 bill? The singer of a song based on a poem written five centuries ago? Who invented the revolver? As Jamil knocks down each question, one by one, we see a series of dramatic flashbacks to moments — some of them wrenching to watch, warranting the film’s R rating —that have seared the answers into his brain.
Even after you find out how — and why — Jamal got into the “Millionaire” hot seat, and how he knows what he knows, you’ll still have to wait for the answer to the biggest question of all: Will his destiny lead him where his heart so passionately wants to go?
“Slumdog Millionaire” is an exhilarating movie experience that plops you into a gritty world most Americans never see.
As it jets along on a rocket-fuel cocktail of blood-pumping adrenaline, powerful secrets, searing heartache and rousing uplift, you never know where it’s headed, which unexpected turn it will take or how it will finally end.
And, fittingly for a movie so full of terrific surprises, it even saves one for the very last. Stick around for the musical dance sequence that plays as the credits roll. It’ll send you home on a cloud.
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