Game Show Contestant Jamal Malik uses answers from the hardships of his life to win twenty million rupees and find the girl he lost years ago

Rating: 9/10 (4 May 2009)

When I popped the DVD Slumdog Millionaire (2009) into my DVD player I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but it sure wasn't this. What I saw was a very emotional, inspiring and message filled movie. Directors Danny Boyle and Loveleen Tanden certainly knew what they were doing when putting this cinematic feature together and credit is also due to the screen writer Simon Beaufoy. The theme is a mixture of the importance of love and perseverance in the harsh world we live in. You see the more harsh side of life that exists in every country but more just have turned a blind eye to it.
The movie starts out with Jamal Malik, played by Dev Patel, being interrogated for being suspected of cheating on the popular game show "Who Want to be a Millionaire?" And the question is asked, "Jamal Malik is just one question away from winning 20 million rupees. How did he do it? A. He cheated B. He's lucky C. He's a genius D. It is destiny" After watching him being tortured for a bit he is placed in a chair in an office, where him and two officers watch the show and each question they ask him how he knew the answer. Each question brings back a memory from his life in the slums of India, some are good memories, but mostly there are sad ones.
The shots used to transition from the present of him being questioned, to the show and then on to the flashbacks are brilliant. Through the television screen till you're on the state as one of the cameras filming the show, and from there you see him close his eyes in remembrance or gaze into the distance, you hear the sounds from the scene before the scene itself comes into focus. You are introduced to Jamal and his older brother Salim, played by Madhur Mittal as an adult, when they are little kids and are being played by Ayush Mahesh Khedekar (Jamal), Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail (Salim). They are the musketeers, causing mischief and trouble where ever they go in the slums, whether it's playing on landing strips and out running cops, or charging people to use bathrooms near the beach.
During one of the flashbacks there is a fight and the boys' mother is killed. They find a little girl by the name of Latika, played as a child by Rubina Ali, alone and at first they outcast her on Salim's orders, but once Salim is asleep Jamal invites here in and befriends her. She becomes the third musketeer to their ranks. Latika and Jamal grow very close and even though they get separated as children he never forgets her. In fact he makes a point of going and finding her when they are teenagers, and finding her again when they were adults. He loves her more than anything and she's the reason he got on the game show, he knew she'd be watching it.
The manipulation of time as they grow up makes the movie flow quite well and keeps the storyline going. When they transition from being kids to teenagers they are rolling down a hill after being thrown off a train. You see them slowly age through the flying dirty as they roll and yelp. Then when they sit up they are now teenagers and the Taj Mahal is standing before them in the distance. The next age jump from teenager to adult is a jump of time span. Years that went by where not much happened.
As the movie nears its climax you see that Jamal has become a symbol to all 'slumdogs'. He made the show, he's answered every question correct and thousands of people gather around any television set that is available to them to watch this man, who has suffered much go from having nothing to having millions. When all he really wants in the end is to be with the girl he loves the most.
I would most definitely say that this movie, through its capturing of the pain, the happiness, the sadness, earned all eight Oscars it won out of the ten it was nominated for. At the end I was moved by it. I was sitting right there with all the other Indians rooting for him to win, him to show that even a slumdog can know the answers, have knowledge, become some one and achieve something in the world. Then in the end, he achieves the only goal he's ever truly had: To be with Latika. Definitely earned a thumbs up from me for those who like inspirational movies that don't involve a lot of action but contain a lot of meaning. Life teaches us the answers to the questions we are asked. So the answer at the end is "D. It is Destiny".