Charming, funny, frustrating & sad

Slumdog Millionaire, Exeter Picture House

Cert 15, 120 minutes

By Alex Kersten

A vibrant, refreshing, and fast paced triumph, Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire ticks all the right boxes for those of us tiring of the generic high budget blockbuster.

An unusual concoction of genres, the film manages to be charming, funny, frustrating and sad which cleverly enough make for such great and unpredictable viewing and which is why this film has been heralded as such a success.

 Set in modern day Mumbai, Slumdog engages the audience from the start, attacking our senses with past and present, good and evil, love and money.

The film opens with brutal police torture where our protagonist, Jamal Malik, is being interrogated as to how he could possibly know the answers to questions on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. We are then shifted back to the Millionaire action and later shot back to Jamal’s childhood to unravel the amazing story behind his apparent genius.

Here, we uncover the story of a life of a boy from the slums. The upbeat music, colour and use of hand held cameras make viewing seem more personal. We are able to empathise with his woes, some of which are hilarious, but more importantly share in his joy and innocence. There are moments in the film which will make you want to ‘high-five’ the person next to you, such as the young boys epic journeys on top of train carriages, and their escape from the people they hailed as ‘saints’.

We follow the boy’s transition from childhood to adolescence, which is where the stark realities of love, money, deceit and violence are brought into play. The hypermodernity of Mumbai are catalyst for Jamal’s brother to ‘make it’ in the world, but he becomes embroiled in crime and lust which lead to his downfall and which seem to echo the power crazed sentiments of modern Mumbai.

Jamal, on the other hand represents a more romantic and honest way of life. For him, his love of Latika is his only driving force, but in a world where money is the route of all evil, will love conquer all?

A modern day classic, Slumdog Millionaire is definitely worth going to see. The vibrancy and nature of the cinematography is refreshing and genuine and resembles that of City of God. Add to that a plot which is more colourful than the slums themselves, and your on to a winner.