Slumdog Millionaire
It’s been impossible to avoid the hype from Slumdog Millionaire. Originally heading towards a straight to DVD release, it ended up amassing 8 Oscars at this year’s awards including best motion picture. The story is fairly straightforward. A young man playing “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” on Indian television gets all the way to the final question and is accused of cheating. He then begins to explain to the police office interrogating him, how he came to each conclusion.
The idea is basically a rags to riches plot, from slums to millionaire, one good brother, one bad, with a dark storyline for the latter thrown in for good measure. I wasn’t over awed by what I was watching, neither did I feel the need to turn it off. It rumbled along smoothly enough, with one or two look away scenes (originally aimed at the 12A rating, it ended up being a 15).
I couldn’t help but feel as I was watching, how this film compared to City of God; another story of two young boys from the slums, albeit Brazil in this case. And of the two, I much preferred City of God, as you can see from my review. For me, Slumdog Millionaire is a good film, but it fails to live up to the expectations it has built up — something few films manage to do.
Rating: 6/10
Summary: A love story not worth a million, but certainly the price of a DVD rental
Memorable moment: [1:48:45] — Jamal answers the final question
Top 100 position: 62
IMDb: Slumdog Millionaire
Buy it from: Amazon