Susan Granger’s review of “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight/Warner Bros.)
When 18 year-old Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) from the streets of Mumbai comes up with an unlikely stream of correct answers, winning millions of rupees on India’s version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” he’s suspected of cheating by the game show’s host (Anil Kapoor). Grilled by a police investigator (Irrfan Khan), Jamal reluctantly reveals how his intricate, Dickensian life experiences have informed his knowledge. As a child, sensitive Jamal and his older brother, Salim, were left to fend for themselves in the squalid slums when their mother was killed in a mob attack on Muslims. At Jamal’s insistence, they take in a third urchin, a girl named Latika, envisioning themselves as the Three Musketeers. After they’re captured by a vicious, Fagin-like operator who trains street beggars, crafty Salim saves Jamal from mutilation. But as they escape by jumping on a moving train, they’re separated from Latika, whom Jamal loves. In a hilarious sequence, the boys find themselves at the Taj Mahal, where they pose as guides, dispensing misinformation and scamming gullible tourists. Eventually, Salim (Madhur Mittal) falls in with gangsters, while Jamal toils as a lowly tea-server at XL5 Communications and is determined to ‘rescue’ Latika (Freida Pinto). Working with screenwriter Simon Beaufoy (“The Full Monty”), adapting Vikas Swarup’s novel “Q&A,” Danny Boyle (“Trainspotting,” “Millions,” “28 Days Later”) skillfully concocts %u2013 in flashback %u2013 an ironic, vividly irresistible saga of courage and determination, introducing an exotic socio-economic-cultural angle which makes this premise fresh and filled with unexpected moments of revelation. Add the vibrant cinematography and kinetic energy of the throbbing soundtrack and on the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Slumdog Millionaire” is an intoxicating, triumphant 10. Brutal and beautiful, tragic and joyful, it’s one of the year’s best movies, a must-see!
