The boy done good! (Slumdog Millionaire (DVD))

Member Name: helican

Product:	Slumdog Millionaire (DVD)
Date:	01/07/09 (19 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: an unflinching portrayal of slum life & an uplifting story

Disadvantages: the odd moment of oversentimentality

I'd long avoided Slumdog Millionaire as I'd got the impression it was a straightforward tale of a poor boy who does well on the Indian Who Wants To Be A Millionaire & has a happy ending, & it all sounded very predictable.

When I finally got to see it, however, I was really glad I did. The Millionaire quiz storyline is fairly secondary: accused of cheating & taken by the police for questioning, our hero Jamal tells the story of his life & how he's picked up the answers to the questions on the way.

It's a harsh story: growing up with his brother Salim in the Mumbai slums, his mother is killed in a religious riot & the boys are left to scratch out a living stealing & scavenging. They team up with a girl called Latika but a close call with a professional begging gang splits up the friends.

As the boys reach adulthood Jamal pours all his energies into finding & helping Latika while Salim falls in with the local gangsters, & their differences escalate to a lethal conclusion.

Nothing about the boys' life is glossed over or sanitised & their tough, impoverished background is shown in all its filthy, violent detail - some of it quite hard to watch.

The actors in this - adults & children alike - are all enormously watchable & it's a riveting story, although there's a few too many sentimental flashbacks for me, which is surprising coming from the director of the likes of Trainspotting, Shallow Grave & 28 Days Later.

There's subtitles here & there although it's mostly in English; on my little TV I found the subtitles really small & hard to read.

Slumdog Millionaire reminded me a lot of the Brazilian film City of God with its bustling poverty & brutalising environment, but I preferred Slumdog for its well-rounded story & engaging characters.

Summary: a rich, heartwarming tale of redemption & romance in the grim Mumbai slums.