Thursday, 22 January 2009

Slumdog Millionaire (Film Review)

Overal Rating: 7

There were high expectations surrounding this film. Edgy and youthful director Danny Boyle, face like a spade, previous credits include Trainspotting, The Beach, 28 Days Later - looks like a Brit made his way into the Hollywood cool club.

Fair enough. Let's all give credit where credit is due. I know i'd like to be there. But alas i'm not, so i'll keep my critical sword sharpened and my bitterness at an arm's length, and proceed with this review.

As it turns out, Danny Boyle definitely does deserve his place amongst the cool club, and so does Slumdog Millionaire. A fantastic cast of young and old actors perform brilliantly in this love story set across the slums of India. The Slumdog himself (Dev Patel) is put through his paces on a show of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, and he keeps getting the questions right despite not having received any education whatsoever. How does he do it? Well that's the story folks. Each question prompts a flashback to a moment in his turbulent life in which the answer reveals itself.

Great scripting and brilliant acting. The images are rich with the colours of India; died cloths being hung to dry, the earthy reds of building sites and the misty sunset behind the Taj Mahal. The editing carries us forth at blistering pace, and we get an espresso style shot of Indian culture across various class bandwidths.

However - here comes the knife - I can't help but wonder if this film is getting plaudits at the moment for a style of filmmaking it borrows from an even longer tradition of Bollywood filmmaking in India. Perhaps an industry and method of cinematography which hasn't until now been recognised by the major award bodies. But in Slumdog Millionaire, it receives the right amount of 'Westernisation', to bring it to the attention of the judges who hand out their golden statues.

This - and this only - is my complaint. But perhaps it is not substantial enough to merit me criticising this film too heavily, and maybe Slumdog will sheer in new international audiences for Bollywood filmmaking. Maybe.

Let me put the sword away however, and celebrate a good film when I see one.

Here we have a fast-paced, historical action love comedy story. There's a bit of everything in there, but it's not necessarily a film for everyone. You need to like all of these things to truly enjoy this film. You need to like the moments when you cringe, when you laugh, when you breathe a sigh of relief and when you feel you could cry because of the injustice you're seeing on the screen. If you're not into all of these things at once, Slumdog isn't for you. If you are, there's a real treat waiting for you at the cinema.

To Do: Watch more Bollywood.

1 comment:

cristina said...

definitely worth seeing, even if it is a little over-indulgent at times!