Slumdog Millionaire
Great movie that I got to see yesterday. It is getting near the end of its run, but is still playing locally at the Kentucky this week and perhaps elsewhere. Slumdog Millionaire was made in India and set in India. It has a little bit of a different feel then a typical Hollywood flick of the same style and probably hints back a bit to an older age of Hollywood in some ways. Everyone in it is Indian as far as I know and I have no idea of any are stars or not. Regardless, well worth cost of admission if you get a chance.
The movie start with the main character in an intense interrogation that includes beatings, near drowning, and even some electrocution. Through a series of questions we realize he is being interrogated for allegedly cheating on the Indian version of “Who Want to be a Millionaire?” quiz show. Apparently there is a huge disbelief that a simple young man who grew up in the worst of slums could do so well at the quiz show given the range of questions and the fact that doctors and lawyers had never gotten so far.
At some point, one officer starts to maybe believe just a little bit and from there through a series of flashbacks to both the game and the questions we follow Jamal first getting the question in the game show and then the flashback to his childhood memories of why he knew the answer to the question. It is all really quiet a random set of things that leads him to know the very unique set of answers that he just happens to get as his questions. It is even ironic that the things that every fifth grader should know from India he does not, due to his background and lack of education and those were the ones he had use a lifeline in order to stay in the game.
Jamal’s life first in the slums and later on the run at various times have allowed him to have just the right experiences to know the answers. For instance, one question is who is on the American 100 dollar bill. At some point, a blinded friend of his, a beggar working for a less than savory fellow geta 100 from Jamal. He says Jamal must be kidding him, and ask him who is on the front. He describes Ben Franklin and of course the discuss in addition to the information Jamal is seeking. Sure enough that ends up being a question. If they had asked about the American fifty or a 1000 rupee note, he would not have known.
Of course the one thing I did not really expect it is that it was a love story of timeless magnitude. Boy meets girl when they are young, falls in love on the spot. Their paths crisscross over the years and each time it seems like it their destiny only to have a separation occur again. In the end we learn that is the whole reason he is on the show – to maybe make a final connection to her.
Now do not get me wrong, I loved the movie and I really did not know what to expect. But this is the second time in the last year or so, maybe third, that I have went in to see a movie not wanting any mushy gushing love stuff (Hancock got back last summer) and ended up with two hours of it. I am thinking this one was okay, as at least I did not have the expectation of a super hero action thriller that turned out to be a big glossy boo-hoo love story. Perhaps there should be warning label just to be sure in the future though. 
Oh, and in case you have missed it the movie has won several awards – and had several more nomination nods. The movie is all around solid and despite some bit of cheesy typecast, it works well. The cinematography is awesome, even when we are seeing houses built of tin on heaps garbage – though it much more enjoyable when at other locations. And the sound track rocks as well – so much so that I plan to pick up a couple of the artists or at least the soundtrack itself.
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Brenda
