a class-conscious fairy tale

Rating: 9/10 (25 January 2009)

What looks at first like a joyous allegory is in fact a class-conscious fairy tale - a kinetic, color-drenched, sublimely symmetrical rags-to-riches number. Its scope and detail more than justify its tourist's-eye view of the complexities of Indian shanty life: the enormity and unspeakable beauty that pervade the thing match our uninformed preconceptions, while filling in key details helpfully and gratifyingly. And it's all there in the service of the story, which aims to literalize the 'education' that one gets trying to survive on the bottom rungs of the social ladder. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous, I loved it. And thank God for the happy ending, although they better be getting the hell out of Dodge given the vendettas left dangling.