Slumdog Millionaire Has Surefire Oscar Glory in Its Future

Slumdog Millionaire focuses on a young Indian man (Dev Patel) of 18 who wins a great deal of money while competing on the Hindi version of 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire?' and promptly finds himself fighting to prove that he did not cheat for the answers. We, the audience, are pulled at break-neck speed through the slums of India as each answer is painstakingly traced back to it's origin in the precarious lives of two orphaned brothers.

The film is uniquely beautiful in it's brutality. The cinematography of Anthony Dod Mantle is stunningly colorful and gritty, and the vision brought to Simon Beaufoy's brilliant screenplay (based on the novel "Q&A" by Vikas Swarup) by director Danny Boyle (and the less mentioned Loveleen Tandan co-director) is totally engaging. Not only are you pulled, and sometimes dragged, through the darkest depths of poverty and violence by these visionaries, but you are also, conversely, delivered into the heart of innocence and, ultimately, the arms of love.

This is a realist's fairy tale. Innocence existing in the same place as brutality, blending, mixing, and finally coming of age. We are given two examples, the light and the dark roads taken-one searches for love, the other seeks power, but as with all good tales it's the journey that truly defines the character(s).

In my opinion, this is by far the most unique and fully realized film of the year, all the way down to the fabulous original score by A.R. Rahman. Everything about 'Slumdog Millionaire' is crafted to grab you, hang on to you, confide and, by the final credits, even uplift you.

It is a singular experience not to be missed. And with its four Golden Globe awards and five Critic's Choice wins, Slumdog's road to the Oscars seems fairly assured.

I'd even venture to say "it is written."