Slumdog Millionaire

Believe it or not, Slumdog Millionaire is the first film by director Danny Boyle that I’ve ever seen.  Although he’s gotten a lot of praise for the films he’s helmed over the last decade or so, either I haven’t been interested (A Life Less Ordinary, The Beach, 28 Days Later) or I was interested but somehow never got around to seeing them (Trainspotting, Sunshine).  But word had been spreading about his latest effort, Slumdog Millionaire… there have been a lot of articles, the film has appeared on a lot of Best of 2008 lists, and several of my good friends have recommended it to me.  So I was excited to take a look.

(You’re also probably aware that Slumdog Millionaire knocked ’em dead at the Golden Globes this past Sunday, although that happened after I’d already seen the film.)

It’s a fine film, and a rare “feel-good” picture in this season of mostly glum tales.  But I wish I could say I was as captivated as everyone else seems to be.

The film follows Jamal, his brother Salim, and the girl Latika with whom Salim fell in love at an early age.  All three characters are played by three different actors as we follow them from their youth through their teenage years.  Slumdog Millionaire is set primarily in and around Mumbai, India, and for most of its run-time it contrasts the image of Jamal competing, inexplicably, on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, with flashbacks to the three children’s early lives in increasingly horrible circumstances.  These kids lived through some extraordinary events, and what is remarkable about the film is the way it is able to keep its optimistic soul in the midst of such horror.  

Credit for this should mostly go to the nine actors, in total, who portray the three kids, as well as to Danny Boyle who managed to get such consistently solid performances out of them all.  All nine kids are just wonderful — engaging and honest.  They feel like real kids going through real experiences, not overly-coached child actors.  Each set of three is also incredibly believable as the same character at different ages.

For me, the best thing about the film is the way it transports the viewer into life in Mumbai.  Many reviewers have compared the cinematography of the flashback sequences to the look of the amazing City of Men, and I think there’s something to that.  But Slumdog Millionaire doesn’t feel derivative to me — I think it creates a look and feel all of its own.  I can’t attest to how well the filmmakers were able to capture life in Mumbai — I’ve never been there — but I can state that, by the end of the movie, I certainly felt that I had gotten to know a fascinating world about which I knew very little, both its great beauty and its disturbing horror.

Wow, so far everything sounds great!  So what about Slumdog Millionaire didn’t work for me?  To be honest, I’m not entirely sure.  I just never fully engaged with the fairy tale being told.  (And, despite the gritty realism of much of the film, that is what this is — a rags-to-riches, boy-gets-girl fairy tale.)  One thing I can put my finger on is that, while I like the idea that the sum total of Jamal’s life made him able to answer the myriad questions on Who Wants to be a Millionaire, what I couldn’t quite buy was the idea that the events in his life all lined up in the EXACT SAME ORDER as the questions (so that the flashbacks could line up perfectly with the progress of the game).  This just felt a little too much like Cliff Claven on Jeopardy to me.  I’d have preferred it if the narrative had been a little more fractured.

I have a hard time not recommending such an up-beat film, and one that was clearly made with a lot of love and talent.  So many people out there seem to be responding very favorably to this movie, so maybe I’m just a Scrooge.  Give it a shot and judge for yourself.