SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE – a students' review (school project)

Rating: 8/10 (7 December 2011)

Introduction
The film "Slumdog Millionaire" is based on the book "Question and Answers" written by Vikas Swarup in 2005. The Hollywood production which mostly shot in India is directed by Danny Boyle in 2008 and is produced by Christian Colson. It is awarded with eight Oscars. The main actors are Dav Patel, Frieda Pinto, Madhur Mittal, Anil Kapoor and Irrfan Khan.
By Saskia Röhl & Katharina Hauschild
Summary
"Slumdog millionaire" is a story about Jamal Malik who lives in the slums of Mumbai. He is an 18-year-old orphan and works as an assistant "chai wallah" in a call center. For that reason it seems unbelievable that he is just one question away from winning India's "Who wants to be a millionaire?". While whole India is sympathizing with him, Jamal answers question after question. However the police become suspicious and blame him for cheating so that they arrest him. Two police officers use methods of torture to get Jamal's confession. In the interrogation Jamal explains step by step how he could answer all these questions. Therefore he tells the police officers about his childhood which gave him so much experience with his older brother Salim and his lost first love Latika. This childhood is shown with flashbacks which are experiences to help Jamal answer the questions.
By Anne Meyer & Liza Schroeder
Weaknesses
"Slumdog Millionaire", the winner of eight Oscars, contains only a few weaknesses we will show in the following. Understanding the first couple of scenes of the movie is difficult due to all the information in the different flashbacks. As a matter of fact the movie seems to be obscure and overwhelming at the same time. For example the present time of the movie takes place at the police station where the police officer questions Jamal's given answers in the show "Who wants to be a Millionaire?" This show is described in the first flashback. After that there is another flashback pointing to his childhood and adolescence. Aside from that "Slumdog Millionaire" reveals some typical aspects of a Bollywood production. For instance most of the action is foreseeable, especially the ending which, of course, is a happy one since the two lost lovers find each other again. Besides, after having watched the whole movie it becomes obvious that the last scene, the dance sequence, does not go together well with the rest. All the main and minor characters dance together to Bollywood music at the train station with everybody seeming to be cheerful as if they had forgotten all the dreadful things that had happened before. In the course of the movie this final represents a hard cut and somehow ruins the atmosphere of the whole movie.
By Elisa Baeron &, Imke Klindworth