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Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Director: Danny Boyle

Time Out rating

Average user rating

141 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

Danny Boyle’s ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ is a film so upbeat and colourful that, by the time you’re relaying its infectious air of optimism to friends, you could forget that it features orphans, slaughter, organised crime, poverty, enslavement and police brutality in its crowd-pleasing repertoire of suffering and renewal. Hell, it even ends with a get-up-and-dance Bollywood number on the platform of Mumbai’s Victoria Terminus.Shot entirely in India and largely on location, the fabric of the film is winningly realistic. But the story is pure fantasy inspired partly by co-producer Celador’s desire to enshrine its winning creation, the game show ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire?’ in a movie.

Still, Boyle succeeds in leaving these creepy beginnings behind to create a film that’s full of warmth and humanity and forever looks on the bright side of tragedy. The script is a simple conceit: writer Simon Beaufoy (‘The Full Monty’) has ripped up Vikas Swarup’s novel ‘Q&A;’ and turned it into a rags-to-riches yarn about Jamal (Dev Patel), a young, slum-born adult in Mumbai who gives such a cracking performance on ‘…Millionaire’, that he’s only one question shy of the 20-million-rupee jackpot. Such unlikely success inspires envy on the part of the show’s creepy host (Anil Kapoor), who invites the police to arrest, question and torture him. This interrogation offers flashbacks of episodes in Jamal’s life that reveal the extraordinary sources of his knowledge and lend Boyle the handy framework of a child becoming an adult against all the odds in an India that’s changing by the hour but still dangerous for any kid on the loose.

Of all Boyle’s mixed work, from the promise of ‘Shallow Grave’ to the embarrassment of ‘Millions’ and the recent experiment of ‘Sunshine’, his new film probably best resembles ‘Trainspotting’: where in that film he found energy, humour and bonhomie in the stupor of heroin addiction, here he takes the impoverished life of a young Indian and spins it into an escapist fairytale steeped in the sights and sounds of the new India. By the time Jamal gets his girl – ultimately and simplistically it’s a romance – and everyone’s tapping their feet, you’ll have forgotten that one of his young friends was blinded and another sold into prostitution. You may also forgive some of the plot’s wilder turns and increasingly erratic jumps in time.
Boyle flirts with realism but never fully buys into it.

He’s too concerned with keeping the mood light and the pace furious. He’s a flashy filmmaker at times, but the real saving grace of ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ is how Boyle and cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle go to extreme and pleasing lengths to soak up the colours, people and places of India. The film’s messages – that hard-earned street knowledge can be as valuable as traditional education and, while hardly original, that later success can overcome earlier hardship – are attractive if you’re willing to bite your tongue at the air of positivity. With so much good humour about you can even forgive the film’s bizarre slip from one language to another as young Indian actors give way to a warm, English-language performance from Britain’s Patel, who’s just one of a cast of actors who are as likeable and compelling as the film itself.

Author: Dave Calhoun

Time Out London Issue 2003, 8 - 14 Jan, 2009

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User reviews of this film

Dev Patel said...

Posted on Mar 04 2009 22:29 Wow! Russ risen from the dead - and come back as Jesus!!!!

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jesus said...

Posted on Mar 04 2009 20:27 'Ordinary white British citizen, who sees where the world should be heading'??? You poor deluded sap. You really need a major course of colonic irrigation. You know what you got stuck up your fat ass? Your HEAD, That horrible smell you think is normal cos it's been there all your life??? That's the smell of your own shit, stupid!

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Chriseva said...

Posted on Mar 04 2009 13:05 Oh, Russ, Russ, Russ. You racist, thick piece of shit, What a waste of air you are. I would stick a gas pump right up ur ass and light it and laugh my ass off as I watched you burn. Thank God I am an ordinary white, british citizen who embraces all culture and sees where the world should be heading- forward not back. If we could just get rid of insecure and retarded pieces of crap like you this world would be a great one. I bet ur mama's really proud of you ya tit.

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anju said...

Posted on Mar 04 2009 10:54 i guess thismovie is dammn gud.....as far as i know abt it.. really wanna watch it.....x

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Bombay Duck said...

Posted on Mar 01 2009 20:56 There's only one thing worse than a redneck racist and that's a really dumb redneck racist. If you get out your dictionary of racial abuse you'll find that the term "towelhead" is generally reserved for those from Arab nations who cover their heads with, sometimes, brightly coloured garments to protect from the sun. SD is set in a country called INDIA which is a lovely big country set somewhat to the east of the arabic nations. It is true that a number of people in India wear headgear which would probably lead to their immediate imprisonment and probable execution if our friend Russ had his way - but they aren't usually referred to as towelheads and mostly don't own any oil.

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Dan said...

Posted on Mar 01 2009 20:51 Yep everyone is entiltled to their taste but i cant help winding this racist small minded biggot up, I thought they were stomped out in the eighties along with the rest of the dirty trailer trash. Im not even American but i feel like being crass and rude so..... Russ jog on man, you are a sad little boy who's voice will eventually fade out like the films you sadly endorse with youre pocket money! I dont think its worth 6 starts Dev (prob 5) but if it winds sadboi up then yey lol!!

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RUKSANA said...

Posted on Mar 01 2009 15:00 I LOVED THIS MOVIE IT IS SAD B4 I SAW IT I NEVER
KNOW IT WAS BASED ON A TRUE STORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Charlotte said...

Posted on Mar 01 2009 12:50 I really want to watch this film dispite the arguments on here lol! i cant see how a film that won 8 oscars is crap honestly each to there own i suppose i really really want to watch it i bet it will be BRILL is every aspect.
Everyone has different tastes dont they not everyone has to like the same thing then we would all be boring lol. And y r people arguing on here its a cinema website go argue on facebook lol!!

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Livie said...

Posted on Mar 01 2009 11:35 Saw this film yesterday. It was Amazing!!

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California Knowles said...

Posted on Mar 01 2009 11:05 I cant belive it won lodes of awards because it was so predictable. The best film is California Knowles in london. (Which oviously includes me!!!) And aswell why is it called slumdog millionare?

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Dev Patel said...

Posted on Mar 01 2009 09:06 Hey Russ looks like you've had your medication as the swearing count is well down. Presumably your little group are all kitted out in their white bedsheets and burning crosses. It's great that you keep on rising up as it gives us all a chance to respond with six-star ratings. The average is up to 5 now so presumably this will encourage more readers to go and see this great film.

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Dev Patel said...

Posted on Feb 28 2009 23:40 Hey Russ, you an inpatient for tourettes then? How long do they give you on the computer each day? Just seen Benji Button and what a pile of American poo that was. Guess it would be safe enough for your redneck tastes though.

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Danny Boy!! said...

Posted on Feb 28 2009 22:31 lol youre a funny guy, and blatantly American Russ. Sad man

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Rolla said...

Posted on Feb 28 2009 20:17 this film is the best film i hav eva seen nd itz amazin nd also really clever :]

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Rolla said...

Posted on Feb 28 2009 20:16 thiz iz da best film i hav eva seen itz amazin nd really cleva

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