Slumdog Millionaire: Deserving of Accolades

Praise is being heaped on Danny Boyle’s latest endeavour, the heart warming against-all-odds tales of ’slumdog’ Jamal Malik, who reaches the final question on Indian ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’ despite his lack of education; and I think this film is completely deserving of the accolades being heaped upon it.Danny Boyle’s 10th feature film, Slumdog Millionaire, intersperses Jamil’s difficult life as he and his brother Salim struggle to survive in horrific circumstances using only their wits and charm, with his incredible process on the TV game show. The story opens in Mumbai in 2006 where the young adult Jamal (Dev Patel, displaying acting talent which he kept well hidden as a lead character in the 2 year run of e4 teen drama ‘Skins’) is being tortured by the chief of police (Irrfan Khan) for supposedly cheating his way to the 10 million rupee question.Jamal doesn’t claim to be a genius, or anything of the sort, he simply explains how he came to know the answer to each question he was asked through his life’s misadventures.

Thus the film is coloured with a multitude of flashbacks filling in Jamal’s life story, and the events which have lead him to this moment.The key to this film’s success are the excellent child actors who play the young and teenage Jamal, Salim and Latika, Jamal’s ill-fated sweetheart. These children imbue the real with incredible energy and realism, aided by the fact that the film was shot on light, portable digital cameras which allowed the cast and crew to weave through the streets and slums of Mumbai, and other locations, with speed and agility.The only element which let the film down, I felt, was the pacing, which at times felt a little slow as the audience were so anxious to learn Jamal’s fate. When I saw this film a second time, however, I was much more content at the pace of story-telling which was set (and an added bonus, the film definitely stands up to repeated viewing).  Freida Pinto, as well, who plays the oldest Latika is sure to have a glittering Hollywood career ahead due to her luminous screen presence.

Unfortunately, however, I doubt this beautifully shot film, which is a riot of colour and life throughout, will sweep the boards at this year’s Oscars for the simple reason that it is too entertaining. The panel of judges for Hollywood’s Academy Awards are notoriously snobby and while this film is harrowing in places, showing the hardship encountered in India’s massive slum towns, and the extremes of poverty and wealth which jostle side by side, the improbable but wonderfully fairy-tale ending will leave audiences floating out on a feel-good buzz. Thus, because the film is not a 3 hour hard hitting political/emotional life-drainer, it will be overlooked in the major categories.

The exception may be the soundtrack, which definitely deserves to be nominated for its incredible incorporation of European, Indian and American sounds to great effect, and the screenplay might get a look-in as well as best adaptation.

Having said all that, maybe I’m completely wrong and Slumdog Millionaire will continue the run of success it has had at the Critics Choice Awards, the Golden Globes and the BAFTAs and it will do as well as it deserves to at the Oscars…perhaps ‘it is written’?!