Interesting and compelling,but I don't fully buy it

Rating: 7/10 (10 February 2009)

Jamir(Dev Patel,who should be bracing himself for plenty of work offers here in the states and shortly)has had anything but an easy young life. At eighteen,he's witnessed his mother get killed,his brothers get separated from him and lost contact with a girl who'd become the love of his life AT LEAST twice. He's been beaten,kidnapped,robbed and humiliated in various ways and has had to scrape and scratch for every rupee,pound and rupee as he's made his way to a safe,if perhaps lowly and disrespected ,job at a call center not far from his hometown province in Mumbai.
So when he's able to somehow correctly "guess" his way through the Indian version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" on his way to a fortune(20 million rupees,which I'm guessing would equal about $5 Million American),there is more than a little suspicion and skepticism as to this "Slumdog"'s conquest of the show.
Firstly,I have to say I'm probably far more aligned with those who've reviewed this that were NOT in love with this film,and I'll dispense with my reasons first and thusly: this film's central struggle--the boy Jamir's calm,almost mystic and improbably march toward the grad prize on the game show--taxes my own personal suspension of disbelief to the point of snapping. EVERY single one of the questions has a cosmic "connection" to his life to that point,and his completely uncanny ability to divine the answers through that,while it may make for an interesting,compelling and,yes,romantic story,it leaves a less stock-committed viewer(such as myself)gawed in disbelief through much of it. Also,the pacing of this movie moves in such herky-jerky,stop-and-start patterns that unless a viewer is fully invested in it(which I gather many people have been),then one is either going to be agitated,distracted or even drowsy(as I was,I must confess,at one point)trying to keep up with the weaved or blended story lines.It's most principally in those reasons(plus the decidedly cultural disconnect of the sort of larger-then-life Bollywood style film-making,particularly toward the end,which may be more of a problem of my just not being greatly familiar with rather than any real quality inferiority of the show)that I cannot give better than a decent rating of this film.
NOw,that having been said,why I cannot give this movie terrible reviews lie mostly in the fact(hinted in the summary line)that the movie,for all its quirks,inconsistencies and challenges to one's suspension of disbelief,STILL manages to possess human stories and conflicts that really are interesting and compelling. I credit the actors,most notably PAtel,Freida Pinto(as the girl of his dreams,a one-time friend),Saurabh Shukla(As the highly skeptical police Sargent,charged with trying to shake down Jamir when the show gets suspicious and calls the authorities in the middle of taping),Ayush Mohammed Ismail(As young Salim,JAmal's friend),Ayush Mahesh Khedekar(As young Jamir),Rubiana Ali(As a younger LAtika)and Anil Kapoor(as the host of the "Millionaire"show,a both charismatic and yet potentially shady character)as being the ones who give this show the kind of sympathetic qualities that both salvage it for me and has made it such an emotional fan favorite elsewhere.
Director DAnny Boyle,one NOT shy about incorporating dense,jarring,gross and all-around-disturbing images to his movies,does the same here,but is able to temper it with more tender,intimate and humane moments to give it the kind of fanciful,romantic spirit that it so desperately needs to make this film have any chance of walking and talking.
While I cannot claim to be a fan of this show,I can appreciate the qualities that it brings. I just cannot say this is the best movie of 2008. Worth a look,however,absolutely.