Rated: R
Running Time: 120 Minutes
Year: 2008
Nudity: None
One Sentence: This year's movie to beat?
I am not the one to say that this is this year's movie to beat, but just about the rest of the world thinks that. Slumdog Millionaire has been the buzzing movie since it first started appearing on screens across the country. A piece on NPR, a Time magazine article and all the other creditable buzz that goes along with this type of movie. It is infectious and gets passed along in offices, on blogs and anywhere else someone can pass an opinion. The opinon, "Oh Slumdog Millionaire is soo good, you have to go see it."
Slumdog Millionaire is so good, but you do not have to go see it. Especially those of you that are not into the types of movies that win Oscar's. This movie is a great story of a tough life in India growing up in the slums, being a "slumdog," and maybe having a small chance of making it out of the slums. The story is a lot of things including a comedy, a love story and a drama, it does all the things well and as you have probably heard from someone, tells a great story. The story is great, and the movie is worth checking out for those of you that might be interested in a movie based in India, and spoken in Hinglish. This movie is not the abysamal downer most of these types of movies are, which I liked. There are sad parts of this movie don't get me wrong, but not every moment in this movie is a punch to the stomach and right now, I think we could use a little bit lighter fare in our depressing movies. Slumdog seems to have the right balance of sad story and uplifting moments. It makes for a great movie for America right now.
The portions I liked especially about this movie was the creation of a visual style that represtented the India that we American's never see. The colors, the trash, the people, the streets, and the lifestyle of the slums. This living, breathing city, with millions of people and it's change over 20 years, as it becomes the new central hub of technology in the middle east. How we understand that the changes are not only in the people in the city, but the city itself, and that is I think where Danny Boyle excels with Slumdog. While the story is great I think this is the best part of the movie and really brings the whole thing to the next level. While I enjoyed Slumdog, I do not think it is the best movie of the year, but I think if you decide to check it out, you will enjoy it as much as I did.
