Mumbai's densely populated slums are not places many people are itching to go, but \Slumdog Millionaire's"" main character, Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) calls them home.
Director Danny Boyle's film is a rags-to-riches love story that opens with a scene of Jamal competing on India's version of ""Who Wants to be a Millionaire."" Jamal soon wins the 20 million rupee prize, but the Indian police and game officials ask, perplexedly, how an uneducated ""slumdog"" like Jamal could have known all the answers to the game's difficult questions. They conclude he must have cheated, and Jamal is arrested and brought into an interrogation room to explain how he knew all the answers. This premise allows the film to showcase its immensely creative storytelling, elegantly woven through Jamal's answers with stories of his unimaginable childhood and coming of age.
The story then shifts to Mumbai's overwhelmingly crowded slums, where a much younger Jamal (Ayush Mahesh Khedekar) lives along with his brother Salim (Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail). Through a heartbreaking and jarring sequence of events, the audience watches these brothers lose their mother during a riot.
The plot then shifts rapidly in time, refocusing on Jamal and Salim's life in an orphanage, where Jamal meets the love of his life, Latika (Freida Pinto). Their young puppy love is adorable and playful, but when Jamal and Salim eventually escape from the orphanage, they leave Latika behind.
The story then tracks the two brothers as they spend the next few years of their lives riding trains, before eventually returning to Mumbai as teenagers to find Latika. When Jamal finds her, however, the joy is temporary, as the brothers and lovers are torn apart again. The rest of the story focuses on Jamal's quest to find Salim and Latika once more.
""Slumdog Millionaire"" uses incredible cinematography to give the viewer a firsthand, realistic experience of India's slums. This movie has the entire package: tragedy, love, an absolutely gripping climax and the ability to leave any moviegoer satisfied. It is an emotional puzzle and culturally rich love/coming-of-age story that will leave viewers feeling happy, hopeful and impressed.
Grade: A
