Movie Review- Slumdog Millionaire.

Every now and then a movie comes out in which there was very little commercial hype...yet somehow through word of mouth you hear great things about it- and you check it out. Then you see it actually lives up to these expectations and even exceeds them quite a bit. Almost like meeting a chick online or goin on a date drunk and then waking up next to her and you're like ahh yes. That is Slumdog Millionaire.

Slumdog Millionaire's premise sounds simple enough- Jamal (the main character) is one question away from winning 20 million rupees. Yet, it starts out with him being interrogated and locked up by some authorities since they are convinced that he cheated. Even though Jamal tries to tell them otherwise, he has his face thrown in the water, tied up and given electricity, and slapped around a few times. When he's taken into the office and they pop in the tape of the show, they go through some of the questions and that's when Jamal's story begins. Not to give too much of the movie away, each of the questions reveals a flashback into Jamal's very poor beginnings in the Mumbai slums- which for him are extremely vivid. He has to "ask the audience" around the 2nd question which centered around the Indian flag's credo- something that puzzles the interrogators. As the movie wears on; it continues to go back to Jamal's childhood in which eventually he meets a girl named Lakita (the subplot of the movie). He starts falling for her from there and there's one scene where as him and his brother Salim run away from a teaching center they were at...and Lakita is unable to keep up with them after they get on the train. Because of his experiences, Jamal is able to answer these questions to the shock of the show's host (according to him no one had been able to get past the 32,000 rupee) portion of the show prior to the "Slumdog".

As the story wears on, an older Jamal and Salim resort to fending for themselves- riding the trains all around, making money by showing tourists around the Taj Mahal, the "Real India" and so forth. Jamal and Salim eventually find Lakita- who is now a dancer that goes by the name of "Cherry". Ironically, they meet up with the same group of men that they had met as children in the boarding learning center and this time are able to successfully steal Lakita away (with some force- and actually it helps Jamal answer a question involving "Who Invented the Revolver" hah). After a night of underage drinking and going into a random hotel room, young Salim comes after Jamal with the same gun (Salim's evolution into becoming a gangster) and tells him to get the fuck out of his and Lakita's life out of nowhere. A devastated Jamal obliges.

As Jamal continues to recount the story, the authorities begin to view Jamal in a different light. Even going as far as to say "you're almost TOO truthful" and that it's not what a typical Slumdog is like. On the last question before the epic question- the show's host and Jamal both go into the bathroom and the host talks about how he used to be a Slumdog himself and how lucky Jamal is to be in this position, etc and gives him an answer. Jamal ironically goes with the opposite of that answer, assuming the host was going to help him cheat if he went with his answer...and turns out to be correct.

The night of the 20 million rupee question- everything comes full circle. The entire nation is captivated by Jamal's quest; his brother Salim (who he had seen a couple more times after but can't ever get to forgive for what he did with Lakita) is now a full-fledged gang member and Lakita re-emerges but with them...yet Salim secretly lets her go because he knows his younger brother deserves it; Lakita gets out of dodge. All I'm going to say here is that the question revolves around who is the 3rd Musketeer between Athos and Porthos- and Jamal uses his last lifeline to phone a friend....

Overall, the story is powerful enough to keep you captivated from start to finish. It proves that being street smart and going through some unfortunate experiences not only toughens you mentally- but you learn a lot more than you really thought you did. And yes, while the love aspect of it is semi-cheesy and we all know what eventually happens anyway- the premise of Jamal going on the show and doing it because he hoped Lakita was watching is adorable hah. I didn't want to just give a rundown because the movie is actually more complex than you would think- but woven tightly enough that you never for once get lost. Excellent movie- no wonder why it won a Golden Globe for Best Drama. Best movie I've seen thus far this year. Final Grade: A

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