Slumdog Millionaire
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Anil Kapoor, Dev Patel, Rajendranath Zutshi, Saurabh ShuklaBrand: Twentieth Century Fox
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Dubbed)
Format: NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 120 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-03-31
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Twentieth Century Fox
Movie Reviews of Slumdog Millionaire
Movie Review: Interesting plot, but some stereotypes turned me off.
Summary: 3 Stars
I heard a lot of good things about Slumdog Millionaire. It also made me excited to know AR Rahman did the soundtrack. Despite the fact the film was not well received in India, I was going to give it the benefit of the doubt.
Unfortunately, I could actually see why this film was not well received in India.
The film portrayed mostly poor people in India. In addition, they made it seem like the majority of the officers were corrupt. I tried very hard to not let these quirks get in the way of the plot. After all, in any poor neighborhood - including places in the United States - these things are bound to happen. Stress levels are higher, there generally is less reliable help from authority, and so forth. This can safely be generalized to most places in the world where there is a low-income neighborhood and a high crime rate. I have not done any research on the statistics in Bombay/Mumbhai, but despite the overemphasis on poor people in India, I was willing to put this reservation to the side. I even bit my tongue when I saw the Muslim fanatics attack people and saw the main character make a comment about blaming Rama and Allah for his mother's death. (I will say this, though: the inter-caste violence is generally more infrequent than people in the West make it out to be and even then, it is usually reserved to the rural population. In almost any society, social norms are more rigidly enforced when you get away from the more populated and diverse areas.)
What really turned me off was the scene when little Jamal was conning tourists, only for the police to publicly beat him. Some cops might abuse their authority, but I really do not think the developed parts of India would have this happen a lot. Following this was the young Jamal made the comment to the tourists, "You wanted to see what the REAL India is REALLY like?" After this comment more or less helped me make my decision on the degree of stereotyping. The tourist responded via giving cash to Jamal and saying, "This is how the real America is like!" I may have not quoted the scene word for word, but this is how the scene went. This part of the dialogue really made it obvious that the script writer and film maker over-stereotyped. It also shows a lack of consideration for the non-profit institutions in India that actually -do- help the poor. But like America, people in other countries cannot help -all- of their population.
This major "turn off" aside, the plot was interesting and I am always up for something dealing with the gray aspect of society. It really shows what could happen to the homeless when people do not pay any attention to them. Furthermore, I think the main characters show how far people will go to survive when put under the circumstances many homeless and poor people endure in the city slums. I think someone already said the only unlikely thing that happened was Jamal becoming a millionaire...despite this, almost everything else seemed a pretty accurate portrayal of this environment.
Sincerely,
Arya Nightingale
Summary of Slumdog Millionaire
Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) is just one question away from winning a fortune on India's version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" But how has this uneducated young man from the slums succeeded in providing correct responses to questions that have stumped countless scholars before him? And will he ultimately win it all or lose everything, including his true love?- Audio: English: 5.1 Dolby Surround / French: Dolby Surround
- Language: Dubbed: English & French / Subtitled: English, French & Spanish
- Aspect Ratio: Widescreen: 2.35:1
Danny Boyle (Sunshine) directed this wildly energetic, Dickensian drama about the desultory life and times of an Indian boy whose bleak, formative experiences lead to an appearance on his country's version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" Jamal (played as a young man by Dev Patel) and his brother are orphaned as children, raising themselves in various slums and crime-ridden neighorhoods and falling in, for a while, with a monstrous gang exploiting children as beggars and prostitutes. Driven by his love for Latika (Freida Pinto), Jamal, while a teen, later goes on a journey to rescue her from the gang's clutches, only to lose her again to another oppressive fate as the lover of a notorious gangster.
Running parallel with this dark yet irresistible adventure, told in flashback vignettes, is the almost inexplicable sight of Jamal winning every challenge on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?," a strong showing that leads to a vicious police interrogation. As Jamal explains how he knows the answer to every question on the show as the result of harsh events in his knockabout life, the chaos of his existence gains shape, perspective and soulfulness. The film's violence is offset by a mesmerizing exotica shot and edited with a great whoosh of vitality. Boyle successfully sells the story's most unlikely elements with nods to literary and cinematic conventions that touch an audience's heart more than its head. --Tom Keogh
Stills from Slumdog Millionaire (Click for larger image)
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