Rating: 92%
Thelonious Monk once said that the trick to great music is not inventing new notes, since that’s impossible, but simply hitting the ones you really mean. Danny Boyle seems to have followed that advice in his directing of “Slumdog Millionaire,” a film built out of well-tread plot devices that nonetheless feels fresh and original because it’s done so damned well. Hard-boiled and life affirming by turns, the script by Simon Beaufoy throws us headlong into a colorful, violent India where our heroes, two orphaned brothers, must fight for survival. There’s very little here that someone familiar with Charles Dickens won’t already know on the way into the theater, but by the time the opening credits wind down you won’t be able to separate yourself from the movie long enough to second-guess it. They should file this thing in the Encyclopedia under “Suspension of Disbelief.”
You know very well, Dear Reader, that I abhor excessive plot details, and I shall not break with that policy here. The movie begins with a young Indian man named Jamal Malek on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire,” inexplicably racking up thousands of dollars. We quickly realize that the show’s producers did not intend this to happen, that they expected a penniless “slumdog” like Jamal to barely sit in his seat correctly, much less best their toughest questions. Suspicions arise, and he is abducted by the Indian police and accused of cheating. His explanation of how he knew the correct answers sends us on a journey across his entire life.
The cast of “Slumdog” is entirely unknowns, or at least unknowns to an American audience, which makes these great performances a neat surprise. Danny Boyle has an eye for good leading men, he discovered Cillian Murphy with “28 Days Later” and now he brings us Dev Patel in the lead role. Patel is scrawny and doe eyed, but he exudes tenacity and the will to survive, and we like him immediately. Even more impressive is the seamless baton-passing required to convincingly portray Jamal and his companions from adolescence into adulthood. The film uses nine actors to portray Jamal, his brother Salim, and the love of his life Latika, but it only feels like three people we’ve known for a very long time. Anil Kapoor also gives a great performance as the quasi-villainous game show host Prem Kumar, a man whose attitudes towards Jamal speak volumes about India’s rigorous social stratification.
Like some of Michael Mann’s best work, “Slumdog Millionaire” makes its setting a tangible character. Even though the story stays on point, we are constantly aware of how India is changing and evolving around our protagonists, and how they must adapt to fit its needs. This is a three-dimensional portrait, highlighting the good and the bad, the impressive and the reprehensible, and destroying many simple assumptions about the country. The director has stated several times that he does not feel pity for the people of India, even those like Jamal, because their lives are as vibrant and rich as anyone’s, and this attitude is what makes his movie work. “Slumdog” does not condescend its characters because they are poor, it simply takes us along for the ride. Danny Boyle, a director known for his wild energy, is the perfect man for this job, and we see in this film his most mature artistic vision yet. There have been times in the past, with films like “A Life Less Ordinary,” where he could not find the balance he desired between narrative focus and experimental technique, but at long last his method is beginning to smooth out and work, instead of fighting with itself. More than any director working today, Danny is unpredictable; he’s got a camera and he knows how to use it. This quality marries perfectly with “Slumdog Millionaire;” a more traditional style would have stifled the story’s energy.
If you really want to appreciate what this movie accomplishes, I suggest you rent “August Rush,” and watch that first. There is a movie so similar to this one in so many ways, and yet it is dead on its feet, uninteresting, and riddled with cliches. “Slumdog Millionaire” avoids this fate because it has no self-pity, no excuses, and absolutely no fear. This is a brave, exciting, life affirming cinematic experience, the kind of adrenaline rush that only really grand storytelling can achieve. These notes have been hit many times before, but “Slumdog Millionaire” means them.
Yeah. What Rew said. Wow.