Silly Mistakes Took Me Out Of The Experience

Rating: 8/10 (1 February 2009)

Slumdog Millionaire is a love story, about the troubles one young man goes through in order to be with the woman he loves. Jamal is a contestant on the game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, and is interrogated after answering all the correct answers, he explains how he knew those answers and we are taken on a ride through his life and through India.
This film is marvelous to watch, from the opening shots of India and the hyper kinetic chase through the slums, I was immediately captured by the beauty this film offers its viewer. Both beautiful and depressing, violent and peaceful, dangerous and safe. Slumdog rises to be one of the better films of 2008 and was so close to being a top contender, but faults with the film are technical and it immediately took me out of that zone of beauty and made me realize I was watching a movie.
I'll get to that later, but first, let me tell you how good the film is. It's really good. The vibrant colours hit you and never leave, you actually feel like you are in another world. The sound design is immense and astounding, great attention to detail that is backed with a joyful soundtrack.
The cast is wonderful, Freida Pinto is beautiful beyond words, playing the love interests of the main character in the present time. Each character (Jamal, his brother Salim and Litika) are portrayed at different stages in their lives, by different actors. I enjoyed the really young child actors the most, their innocence and voice worked so well. Dev Petal plays Jamal on the show and despite being new to the acting craft, feels comfortable in the role. One would not know that the kid is actually British.
The film is an all around feel good flick, you will cheer for the kids and their adventures. I will admit, when I first heard about it and saw a trailer I was not really interested, the India background turned me off. I didn't think it was going to be an endearing and thought provoking film. First mistake ladies and gentlemen is going into a flick with preconceived notions. Of course after hearing all the praise I decided to give it a go. I'm glad I did.
Now on to my own little personal rant as I said earlier. I was taken out of the movie experiences a couple times and it ultimately ruined bits for me. One would be after the show is turned on the television and Jamal is being questioned we see a boom mic over his head. Bobbing away up in the air, the second is when we see Latika for the first time after she was captured. The continuity with her piercings in her nose were totally off. Normally the continuity thing wouldn't bother me if it weren't so apparent, but the boom mic really did take me out of it. Or what about the fact that these kids speak English when they are older. Where the hell did they learn that?
That said, the film does have some minor flaws, it's not perfect in anyway. I wanted a bit more from Latika, she was under used. The millionaire questions were incredibly easy, I could be a millionaire right now. you'll enjoy the flashbacks more then the present, but I'm assuming you're suppose to. All in all, Slumdog is a good film.