Seen on: November 22, 2008

The players: Director: Danny Boyle, Writer: Simon Beaufoy, Cast: Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, Madhur Mittal, Freida Pinto

Facts of interest: Based on a novel by Vikas Swarup.

The plot: The film centers on an Indian youngster whose life takes a drastic turn when he scores big on a local version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?"

Our thoughts: They say that every moment in our lives has led up to the one that we are experiencing right now; that it is written, predetermined or fated. I suppose this is true for me. I certainly wouldn’t be writing this review of Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire” had I not seen the film to begin with. And according to Boyle, he would not have made the film if he didn’t need to dive into a project that was thoroughly grounded and connected to the earth after his last sci-fi flick, “Sunshine.”

So with fate appropriately in place and gently leading the way, Boyle has made a film that honors the concept itself and has a great time getting caught up in it instead of fighting against it. The trouble though is that by acknowledging every move in fate’s game plan, “Slumdog Millionaire” kills the mystery and makes fate into a trap instead of the comfort it could be.

The title, “Slumdog Millionaire,” refers to Jamal Malik (Dev Patel), a young man who grew up in the slums of Mumbai and who’s now in the unexpected position of being a finalist on India’s version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” Doctors and lawyers haven’t made it this far in the game, and yet here is this young kid who usually works in a call center but is now on the verge of taking the big prize.

At his job, the kid doesn’t even answer the phones; he gets the coffee for the people who answer the phones. How could he possibly know the answers to all these questions? He has no formal education, and he doesn’t come from a well-respected background. The answer is simple: he must be cheating.

And so when the show breaks for the day, Malik is secretly taken into custody and tortured by the police so that he can explain to them just how he’s done it. Not surprisingly, he doesn’t take too kindly to the torture, and he certainly doesn’t believe that he has anything to hide. Malik simply sits down with the detective (an underused Irrfan Khan) and explains, question by question, how his life experiences taught him everything he needed to know.

Boyle likes to play with style in his movies, and “Slumdog Millionaire” is certainly no different than “Sunshine” or “Trainspotting” on this level. Thankfully, his style is never solely used to make up for a lack of substance, but there is still something to be said about overdoing it. It is beautifully shot and full of life and color, but it is often excessive and distracting.

I mean, even the subtitles are over-stylized, appearing anywhere on the screen and boxed by another bright color to separate them from the image. I wish Boyle would learn to trust his natural instincts more and not feel he needs these embellishers to keep our attention. He just doesn’t do simple, and while he’s putting these flourishes on the image, he misses how the rigidity of Simon Beaufoy’s story is stifling the plausibility of Malik’s plight.

Essentially, Malik must give us his entire life story as it relates to the game questions, and the structure becomes deliberate and foreseeable very quickly: question, explanation, question, explanation. Still, the movie is still a crowd pleaser. It’s just of the contrived and conventional variety but cleverly disguised as topical and concerned.

Boyle does expose us to an original love story between Malik and his childhood love, Latika (played as an adult by Freida Pinto), told in the unlikely setting of the dangerous Mumbai streets. Poverty and corruption frame what is a genuinely believable and moving love between these two young actors. They are not only both beautiful, but they are both innocent and sincere.

Freaky quote: “Because I thought she'd be watching." – Dev Patel

The final word: You will root for them and you will delight in their ultimate outcomes that culminate in a jubilant closing credit sequence (stay in your seat, trust me). But if whatever events in your life led you to seeing this movie and made you into the kind of person that can see past the flare to the formal, then you know that fate is not as specific nor as simple to spot as Boyle seems to believe.

Article by Joseph Belanger