Slumdog Millionaire

Rating: 8/10 (8 December 2010)

Slumdog Millionaire, starring Dev Patel as main character Jamal Malik, is about a poor boy from the slums of India who becomes a contestant on India's version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" Jamal Malik and his brother Salim (Madur Mittal), grow up in India very poor and without parents from a young age. They struggle to survive and stay together throughout their whole lives. When Jamal becomes a contestant on the popular TV show when he was older, no one expected him to do well. After he started answering every question correctly, the producers began to think he might be cheating. He is arrested late one night after shooting by the show's security officers and held captive while being questioned about how he knows all the correct answers. They literally beat the answers out of Jamal, insisting that he is cheating somehow. How could a slum know so much? As Jamal begins to finally explain how he knows the answers, we are shown flashbacks of his young childhood. Each of these flashbacks provides different dramatic, horrific situations from Jamal's past, including being witnesses to their mother's brutal death, and how they are relevant to the questions on the show. We see Jamal and Salim overcome many terrible obstacles at very young ages, barely surviving at some points. They travel through India homeless at most times and earn money with their mischievous ways. A third orphan, Latika, played by Rubina Alina, and then Freida Pinto for the teenage years, joins the brothers and Jamal develops an immediate crush. Throughout the film Jamal and Latika are separated, but Jamal never forgets her. The answer to each question is somehow present in these childhood memories and Jamal remembers them as he is seating in the "hot seat", competing for millions of dollars.
The film uses great cinematography with flashbacks and the music really helps set the mood for each scene. Jamal becomes the nation's hero and we see them all supporting him. This film grabs the attention of its viewers and holds on.