Millions will love "Slumdog Millionaire"

Rating: 10/10 (13 January 2009)

"Slumdog Millionaire" is rich with so many magnificent qualities: It is a vibrant, inspiring, and audacious film. And it just might be the apex of cinematic releases for the film year 2008. "Slumdog Millionaire" is the story of impoverished Indian teen Jamal Malik's Dickens-like life adventure during his childhood and juvenile years; from his turbulent childhood in India's slums to his destined juvenile experience of being a game show contestant of India's version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" Director Danny Boyle does a divine job of orchestrating on how Jamal is able to answer Millionaire questions correctly by Jamal's adventurous "lifeline" childhood & youthful slum experiences; the two interrelated juxtaposed narrative structures is the storytelling nature of "Slumdog Millionaire". Jamal and his older brother Salim together go through many childhood slum trials & tribulations and evade seizure & mortality in the most unique ways. Salim as he grows older eventually ventures into the bad seed of living a thug life, while genuine Jamal turns the other cheek and is just focused on living a love life. You see Jamal's foremost drive is to reunite with the love of his life Lakita, which he befriended as a child but were separated in a slum escape from some horrific opportunistic criminals. Jamal as a young man does eventually find the beautiful Lakita and is aware that she is an avid fan of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" Therefore, that is what leads our main slumdog Jamal to the game show experience. India's law enforcement is dubious on how a slumdog like Jamal can answers questions correctly on the game show, so they shake up Jamal a bit. Jamal then has no other choice but to tell his life story to them and fortunately for our cinematic delight to us viewers also. Dev Patel as Jamal was no slum in his motion picture acting debut with his brilliant performance. Anil Kapoor was captivating as Millionaire host Prem Kumar; and the steady veteran Indian actor Irrfan Khan did contribute yet another admirable performance to his underrated acting resume. The drop dead gorgeous Freida Pinto not only paints a pretty picture as an Indian sex symbol but she was also ready as Freddy, I mean Freida, with her thespian contribution to Slumdog. Simon Beaufoy's electric screenplay was one of the year's elite and Simon says "you best believe that it is a lock for a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar nomination." The wondrous cinematography, production design, and editing of "Slumdog Millionaire" should also bark up more Oscar nominations on the Slumdoghouse. The celebratory theme song of Slumdog is entitled "Jai Ho" which means "Victory" in Indian. The rousing "Jai Ho" is also worthy of an Oscar jai ho as Best Song. The true hero of "Slumdog Millionaire" is Director Danny Boyle for his precise composition of this gem of a film; thank you Danny Boy! How do you say "Best Director Oscar" in Indian? Will there be many Jai Ho's for "Slumdog Millionaire" come Oscar night? I believe so and that is my final answer! ***** Excellent