SLUMDERFUL!
THIS 'MILLIONAIRE' IS WELL WORTH ITS WEIGHT IN GOLD
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The Indian Reege (Anil Kapoor, right) doubts Jamal (Dev Patel).
Rating:
Posted: 3:46 am
November 12, 2008
FOUR
stars simply aren't enough for Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire,"
which just may be the most entertaining movie I've ever labeled a
masterpiece in these pages.
Great movies transport the audience, and this one left me floating
on air after two viewings. I can't wait to see it again - and share it
with others.
It's actually one of those movies that are best approached with as little
advance knowledge as possible.
If you need more of a sell than that, let me just say it's a
soaringly romantic, uproarious comedy-drama with Dickensian overtones -
set mostly in a vividly rendered Mumbai, India.
A police inspector (the excellent Irfan Khan) describes the story,
which is taken from a novel inspired by a perhaps apocryphal story, as
"bizarrely plausible." That's about right.
Jamal (Dev Patel), an 18-year-old Muslim, is a highly successful
contestant on the Indian version of "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire."
He has qualified to answer a question that could bring him 20
million rupees (about $460,000), but the show's unctuous host (Indian
superstar Anil Kapoor) is jealous of his popularity and deeply
skeptical of Jamal's knowledge.
How can Jamal, an orphan from Mumbai's slums who works as a tea
server at the phone company, possibly know the answers to questions
that stump learned professionals?
So he turns Jamal over to the cops, and they begin torturing our hero to
confess that he's somehow cheating.
In the brilliantly structured screenplay by Simon Beaufoy ("The
Full Monty"), this summons forth a remarkable series of memories from
Jamal, going all the way back to his childhood when his mother is
killed in a religious riot.
Each story illustrates how Jamal is able to answer the questions.
We follow Jamal and his older brother Salim - well played by three
sets of actors at various ages - through a series of incredibly
colorful adventures, all of which adds to Jamal's store of knowledge.
It begins with a dive into a latrine pit to steal a glimpse of a
movie star and continues with their stealing shoes at the Taj Mahal as
the brothers fall in and out with various band of criminals and each
other.
The driving thread is the beautiful Latika (played as an adult by
Freida Pinto), with whom Jamal becomes smitten as a child. He pursues
her tirelessly even after she has been sold off to become the bride of
a gang boss.
Boyle ("Trainspotting," "28 Days Later") and Beaufoy don't take a
single wrong step as the story hurtles toward a hugely satisfying
climax.
American audiences have long been notoriously cool to the
larger-than-life storytelling style of Bollywood that Boyle pays
tribute to, but "Slumdog Millionaire" could be an even bigger game
changer than "Moulin Rouge."
With a gallery of unforgettable performances and indelible images
of the subcontinent, this is surely one of the year's best movies - and
the only live-action contender for the Best Picture Oscar released so
far this year.
And by the way, don't be afraid to take kids as young as 10. Yes,
it's got some subtitles - about half the film is in English - and yes,
that R rating is justified by some violence and intense imagery.
But few movies ever have provided better and more entertaining
lessons about the joys of learning. Plus, they'll really enjoy it.
Honest.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/11122008/entertainment/movies/slumderful__138251.htm
