Slumdog Millionaire is an artful mash up of Oliver Twist, East of Eden, It's a Wonderful Life, The Shop Around the Corner, The Mahabharata and It Could Happen to You. A big, ebullient movie, Slumdog bubbles up out of the brutal slums of Mumbai where orphaned brothers Jamal (Ayush Mahesh Khedekar) and Salim (Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail) forge a lifelong bond as "the Two Musketeers" and soars to the national stage of the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.
Motherless street urchin Latika (Rubiana Ali) becomes the third Musketeer when big-hearted Jamal, who always gives his best, offers her shelter from the rain, against the stern rebuke of Salim, who always keeps the best for himself. Literally scooped out a trash heap by the Fagin-like Maman (Ankur Vikal), the trio at first think they have found sanctuary with a kind-hearted benefactor but it quickly becomes apparent that their savior is a brutal exploiter of children. Salim helps Jamal and Latika escape but once again he saves the best for himself and Latika is recaptured. Jamal pines for Latika for the rest of the movie even as he and the ever resourceful Salim ride the
rails and engage in all manner of petty larceny to survive. Jamal's life lessons, a marvelous tapestry shown in flashbacks, contribute to his unlikely run on Millionaire.
Director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting) does several remarkable things in Slumdog. He manages to convey the depth and breadth of India both socially and geographically, from crushing poverty to lavish wealth and from the trash heaps of Mumbai to the reflecting pools of the Taj Mahal. He artfully juxtaposes the ugliness of exploitation and corruption against the unrivaled beauty of love, faith and perseverance. He shows us an ancient India co-existing simultaneously with an Indian economy built on outsourced services such as those provided by the telephone call center where the adult Jamal (Dev Patel) toils as a chai-wallah, literally a boy who serves spiced tea.
In short, Slumdog Millionaire is
Motherless street urchin Latika (Rubiana Ali) becomes the third Musketeer when big-hearted Jamal, who always gives his best, offers her shelter from the rain, against the stern rebuke of Salim, who always keeps the best for himself. Literally scooped out a trash heap by the Fagin-like Maman (Ankur Vikal), the trio at first think they have found sanctuary with a kind-hearted benefactor but it quickly becomes apparent that their savior is a brutal exploiter of children. Salim helps Jamal and Latika escape but once again he saves the best for himself and Latika is recaptured. Jamal pines for Latika for the rest of the movie even as he and the ever resourceful Salim ride the
rails and engage in all manner of petty larceny to survive. Jamal's life lessons, a marvelous tapestry shown in flashbacks, contribute to his unlikely run on Millionaire.
Director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting) does several remarkable things in Slumdog. He manages to convey the depth and breadth of India both socially and geographically, from crushing poverty to lavish wealth and from the trash heaps of Mumbai to the reflecting pools of the Taj Mahal. He artfully juxtaposes the ugliness of exploitation and corruption against the unrivaled beauty of love, faith and perseverance. He shows us an ancient India co-existing simultaneously with an Indian economy built on outsourced services such as those provided by the telephone call center where the adult Jamal (Dev Patel) toils as a chai-wallah, literally a boy who serves spiced tea.
In short, Slumdog Millionaire is
an energetic homage to classic
Twentieth Century filmmaking and a shining beacon pointing the way to how great movies can be in the new millennium.
No comments:
Post a Comment