Rama’s SCREEN

If you’ve never stood up and applaud for a well-made movie, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is destined to make you cheer for how extraordinary it is. Hands down, a personal favorite of mine. A crowd pleaser, one of the best… movies of the year. Make sure to bring everyone you know and watch one of the celebrated filmmaking achievements in recent years, every bone in my body tells me that Diretor Daniel Boyle has got his final answer and it’s most definitely the right one to win.

“Slumdog Millionaire” is the story of Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is about to experience the biggest day of his life. With the whole nation watching, he is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India’s “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”
But when the show breaks for the night, police arrest him on suspicion of cheating; how could a street kid know so much? Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slum where he and his brother grew up, of their adventures together on the road, of vicious encounters with local gangs, and of Latika, the girl he loved and lost. Each chapter of his story reveals the key to the answer to one of the game show’s questions.
Intrigued by Jamal’s story, the jaded Police Inspector begins to wonder what a young man with no apparent desire for riches is really doing on this game show?
When the new day dawns and Jamal returns to answer the final question, the Inspector and sixty million viewers are about to find out…

I thought I’ve seen it all but SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE has proved me wrong because the concept itself is brilliant and everything leads to one story of a life time full of struggle, thrills, brotherhood, betrayal, and most importantly, love, the one thing that keeps the main character, Jamal, going despite all the sh*tstorm along the way. Cheers to the adaptation by screenwriter Simon Beaufoy (The Full Monty).
I’m glad that director Danny Boyle didn’t do this project all by himself, he took on a partner, a co-director by the name of Loveleen Tandan who also made my other favorite movie, Brick Lane. Ya See, now that’s a good move on englishman Boyle’s part, because most filmmakers make the mistake of thinking they could just do a film about other culture like they understand it when they actually don’t. Having Tandan brought this movie a sense of authencity (the habits, the tension between Muslim Vs. Hindu, the tradition)
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE has what it takes to be a contender and possibly be in the same level as other India-themed movies made by foreign filmmakers (Gandhi, A Passage to India)

I like the camera work on this movie, just love it! Not a moment in this movie that will lose your attention. You will never get bored of every visual you see because it’s presented in the most captivating way. Boyle and his crew obviously were not afraid to try the unconventional. The word is that a portion of the movie was shot with a Canon EOS still camera, especially around the Taj Mahal, rather than a proper movie camera which creates unwanted attention among the tourists. The scene where the cops are chasing the kids down the slums was said to have been shot with the camera man “running with a hard drive in his backpack, holding the lightweight SI 2K gyro with a camera lens in his hand, which shoots a high-res digital image”
Once again, what I really respect is Danny Boyle’s willingness to have Indian talents help him out on his journey to making a great movie. A.R. Rahman who’s known for being the John Williams of the Indian Film Industry has done an excellent job with the score. I grew up watching in Asia, and everyone there loves Bollywood movies so it’s good to see that SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE doesn’t try to hide go astray from what makes Bollywood unique and different than Hollywood movies. It has tribute to past Bollywood stars, lots of Bollywood references, plus it has that awesome dancing part at the end when the credits roll just like how they always do in Bollywood.

Don’t get even me started with the acting, you’ll never see a more perfect ensemble cast for quite some time after this one. Dev Patel who plays adult Jamal, or Freida Pinto who plays adult Latika, even their younger versions give powerful performances. Just stunning. Every actor chosen is so damn good for the roles they play, it’s as if they’re destined for the characters. By the way, the theme destiny and love are the oil that keeps this movie’s engine running. If you don’t believe in those things, this movie will turn you into a believer. One of my favorite movies of all time is Forrest Gump. It’s heartwarming to know that wherever Forrest Gump runs, he’ll always have Jenny on his mind. Jenny might see the downside of life and find it impossible to end up with Forrest, but that doesn’t make Forrest stop loving her. That’s the same way I feel about the relationship between Jamal and Latika,.. all the crap in life makes it seem almost impossible for these two people to be together, so Jamal goes and does the impossible by being on one of the most popular shows on TV to prove that he’ll always have Latika on his mind. Not for the money, not for the glory, but for love. It is written.

Last but not least, I just wanna say something for the record… having gone through a business school, I’ve always heard professors telling me how India is the emerging market, a power to be reckon with due to the people’s intelligence in the field of science and technology, not to mention they got more man power/population than the U.S. That is all true, but… I admire how SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE doesn’t cover up the problems that India is still facing, just like any other developing country like the one I grew up in. I hope this movie raises awareness because just like Jamal’s rogue brother Salim who’s too fixated on the limelight, the billboard and the money this world has to offer, we too often find ourselves without realizing it too focused on the skyscrapers, the material things that a country could provide but often forgetting the poverty, the unfair distribution of wealth, the caste system, the mobsters, and all kinds of injustices between ethnics and religions that are still holding countries like India back, keeping it from becoming more than it could be.

* Place the cursor on the image below to check my grade for this film