There may be no better setting for a modern-day fairy tale than India, with its blend of grit and exoticism, tradition and booming modernity, extreme wealth and grimmest poverty. And Slumdog Millionaire is a fairy tale, albeit one whose traditional themes (good brother, bad brother; fated love; pauper to prince, for a start) are dressed up in a chaotic swirl of bright fabrics, crowded streets, and relentless sounds.
As you might expect from the man who brought us Trainspotting, the music in this movie is a powerful factor, adding to the near-sensory-overload of the faster-paced sequences (an early chase scene in the corrugated-tin slums of the city is a good example) and refusing to let the viewer pause long enough for any cynicism to set in. Even without a story to follow, I would have happily watched and listened as the scene-setting shots rushed by, in a sort of two-hour National Geographic music video.
But there is a story, and a cleverly structured one at that: Jamal is a contestant on India’s version of “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?” — and as a “slumdog” nobody, he is immediately suspected of cheating when he comes within a single question of the grand prize. Forced to explain his success to the police, he describes — in a series of lengthy flashbacks — how each answer was acquired, and in doing so tells the story of his life in the slums with brother Salim and young love Latika.
The connections between the story (a compelling one that mixes humour with some truly dark moments) and the game show questions are tangential enough that the gimmick never feels forced. The details are doled out slowly, with just the right mix of foreshadowing and suspense, and you (or at least I) really are left wondering about that final question until the last moments of the film.
Slumdog Millionaire is a loud, ugly, beautiful, colourful, chaotic, romantic yarn. I walked out smiling.
by Eva Holland | Source: 35mm Print
23 Dec 2008 11:46 PM | Submit Comment