Slam Dunk Millionaire

Rating: 9/10 (13 June 2009)

Beautifully shot and composed, this fast moving tale is also very well-acted by players unfamiliar to Americans. Distilled, the script is patently simple and has been done many times. But, it is the treatment here that makes SM different and compelling. Danny Boyle handles his directing chores to turn in a tightly woven story of rags-to-rags-to-riches.
The child actors are wonderful and expressive. The adult Jamal, played by Dev Patel, comes off a little wooden. Freida Pinto as the adult Latika does a bit better, but all she is really asked to do is look beautiful, which she does effortlessly.
This movie is relentlessly depressing, living in a world of a nearly sub-human subsistence struggle. India is presented as a filthy, corrupt, and thoroughly disgusting place; one spends much of the movie thanking God for allowing you to not have been born there. There is the occasional inappropriate background song. And there are some elements that simply do not work, such as the child diving into a pit of excrement and then obtaining a celebrity's autograph. For these things, I gave it nine rather than ten stars.
Well worth a viewing.