Slumdog Millionaire a Priceless Look at India with Dev Patel, Freida Pinto - Movie Recap & Review

The movie originally intended to go straight to DVD, Slumdog Millionaire is finally coming to DVD starring Dev Patel, Freida Pinto and Anil Kapoor. Slumdog Millionaire is an exhilarating rags to riches story with a conscience. The movie begins with Jamal Malik (Dev Patel), a lowly tea wallah from the slums of Mumbai (Bombay) India, sitting in the hot seat on the Indian version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." Jamal is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees which would change his live of poverty forever. But that's not why Jamal is on the show.

With one question left, "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" breaks for the night and Jamal is accused of cheating by the show's host Prem Kumar (Anil Kapoor). After all, how could a street kid know so much? Jamal is arrested by the police where he is tortured. If he hopes to escape arrest and take his place on the show again, Jamal must prove to the police and the show's producers how he knows the answers. This is accomplished by an effective use of flashbacks in Slumdog Millionaire to tell Jamal's sad story of loss and harsh poverty growing up as a child in the Mumbai slums.

The first question about Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan sets the stage as Jamal recalls the lengths he went to as a young child to get his beloved hero Amitabh Bachchan's autograph when Jamal was trapped in an outhouse by his older brother, Salim (Madhur Mittal). After Jamal literally crawled through filth to get Bachchan's autograph, Salim sold the autograph for a couple of rupees. This establishes two important precidents in Slumdog Millionaire: Jamal will do whatever it takes to get something he loves, and Salim will do anything to get money.

Jamal tells how their mother was killed in the Hindu anti-Muslim violence, and how as he and Salim fled the massacre, they found another orphan, a little girl named Latika (Freida Pinto). Little Jamal takes Latika in against his brother's wishes, and the three children scrounge through garbage for a living until they are eventually discovered by Maman (Ankur Vikal). Maman finds abandoned children and takes them in to be trained as thieves, prostitutes and beggars. Salim is discovered to have a penchant as a thug, so he helps keep the other children in line. But when Salim discovers Maman plans to maim Jamal to make him a blind street singer (singing the song "Darshan Do Ghanshyam" which is also a question on the show), Salim helps Jamal, accompanied by Latika, to escape. When the boys catch a moving train, the brothers loose little Latika.

Slumdog Millionaire is the story of Jamal's dream to reunite with Latika, and how he will do anything to find her again, even if he puts himself in danger. He finds Latika twice only to loose her again (both times to Salim), and on one of those occasions, he discovers she likes to watch "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." In a desperate attempt to reach out to Latika before she is lost to him forever, Jamal becomes a contestant on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." For Jamal it is never about winning - it is all about finding his beloved Latika.

Slumdog Millionaire is a movie that will make you think. It is provocative and truthful as it looks at the atrocities and brutality as well as the joy, laughter and sheer energy of the slums of Mumbai. If you don't think small children are victimized, maimed and sold into prostitution on the streets of India, you have never been there. I have seen it first hand. India is a country of extremes and Slumdog Millionaire captures this with loving attention to detail. There are not many movies I can recommend without reservations. Slumdog Millionaire is that rare, beautiful exception.

If you want a couple of picky points, there is some cussing in Slumdog Millionaire, but the cussing is predominantly in Hindi. There is some violence as well as mild adult situations which are part of the essence of the plot. Also, as has been pointed out by countless critics, it is far-fetched to imagine three street urchins from the slums learning to speak flawless British English by the time they are 18, as uneducated adults in India speak at best a kind of pidgin English. However, when has a little imagination ever been a flaw in entertainment? I highly recommend Slumdog Millionaire. Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Anil Kapoor, and the rest of the cast bring their characters vividly to life. Even the music becomes a welcomed movie character. Slumdog Millionaire is an excellent, evocative movie, and I am already looking forward to watching it again.

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Slumdog Millionaire - Movie Review

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