excellent film but a tragic story

Rating: 10/10 (13 January 2009)

This is an excellent film but a tragic story depicting the exploitation of children, poverty, racism towards Muslims, police brutality, corruption and crime. Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) is a street kid (or "slumdog") who appears on India's WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE? Jamal exceeds expectations on the show so the games host alerts the police after he becomes suspicious of his methods. Boyle ties together Jamal's life experiences with his answers on the show brilliantly as we see him growing up. Boyle's cast are all excellent and are mostly unknown outside of India. Patel, in particular, gives a performance that audiences are unlikely to forget long after the credits role on this affecting feature.