A modern-day fairy tale about love and destiny

Rating: Null/10 (6 April 2009)

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is the story of a young man in India. All he cares about in the world is a girl. In an effort to find his lost love, he becomes a contestant on the popular game show "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire". Hoping the girl is out there watching, the boy aims to go as far as he can on the show. As destiny would have it, the questions he's asked can be answered from his experiences as an orphan on the streets of Mumbai. When the uneducated young man reaches the 20-million-rupee question, he is arrested and interrogated on suspicion of cheating.
But the money never mattered to the boy. His only motive is to see the girl again. Orphaned as children, Jamal (the boy), Salim (his older brother), and Latika (the girl) were all each other had. They survived many ordeals, being separated, finding each other, and being separated again. Jamal always cared for Latika and is the only person who treats her well. Jamal never forgets about Latika and never gives up on her.
I liked the film, though I've heard many criticisms of it. I see SLUMDOG as a love story. Or as another poster suggested, a fairy tale. I do not think the movie was meant to be taken at face value as an it-could-happen-to-you story of rags to riches luck. The money was never important to Jamal. He'd walk away empty-handed if it meant being with Latika.
As for its predictability, I didn't have a problem knowing how the love story would end. I wasn't sure if Jamal would win the jackpot, because I knew that it didn't matter either way to him. It's not difficult to predict the ending, but getting there is half the fun.
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE cleaned up at the Oscars. It's a very well-crafted film (in terms of cinematography, direction, etc.) and viewers tend to get swept up in the romantic story. Not everybody loved it. (It's not exactly a thriller, it's not action-packed or cerebral, it's not a musical, and, yes, there are factual errors regarding "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire".) But it's a good little love story, if that's what you're looking for. I liked the final 45 minutes the best.