by Heather Lyon

Created on: February 27, 2009

Its refreshing to see a truly unique film such as Slumdog Millionaire. The story it told was new and unique, the way the movie present the story was unique and it showed me something that I might not have otherwise thought about. This is what an Oscar worthy movie should do and Slumdog Millionaire not only does it but does it well. It definitely deserved the eight Oscars that it received.

Jamal is on the Indian equivalent of the popular show Who Wants to be a Millionaire. And he does what only one other person has done. He answers all the questions correctly to win 10 million rupees which is roughly 200,441 American dollars. The police believe he has cheated to get this result so they arrest Jamal and begin to torture him to get him to tell how he cheated. What follows is a disjointed account of Jamal's life with each story centering around the question he was asked on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and how he knows the answer to the question. So we get an account of Jamal's life question by question. We find out that Jamal and his brother Salim were orphaned young and went through many trials as they grew up. Most of us cannot imagine what they went through. Along the way they meet Latika who becomes the 3rd member of their little group. But when Jamal and Salim escape from a bad orphanage Latika is inadvertently left behind. The rest of Jamal's life is centered around finding Latika again. Does he find Latika and does he get to keep the money? Watch this excellent movie and find out.

I love the way the story was written. A life framed around a series of random trivia questions. It was a very good and unique way to tell the story. The story moved well and never dragged or was boring and it made sense. There were also some very nice camera angles used during some of the chase scenes as the children ran through the streets of Mumbai.

The score was absolutely phenomenal. I have the CD ordered and can't wait to listen to the music all over again. It complemented the movie the way a score is supposed to, but is too often failed in most movies. It gave emotional depth to the film in a way dialogue or pictures could not. The movie definitely deserved its Oscars for Score and Song.

The acting was well done as well. Even though there were no Oscar nominations for all these new faces. Jamal is played by Dev Patel. He does the part very well. He looks like the nice guy caught up in circumstances beyond his control. So he fit his part very well. I hope to see him in future films. Salim (Jamal's Brother) is played by Madhur Mittal who also did a nice job with his role of the older brother doing what he had to do to protect his younger brother. Latika is played by Freida Pinto. She is a very pretty girl who plays the role of a girl caught up in a world she cannot escape from but desperately does not want to be a part of. And of course the children who played the younger versions of Jamal, Salim and Latika did an outstanding job. They did help carry the film as we go from the children being very young to teenage to adult as the story unfolds.

And I also have to mention the director Danny Boyle for having such great vision with this movie. He has really created a treasure in this film and he much deserved the directing Oscar that he received.

This was a very good film. See it as soon as you can. You won't regret it. This is one Oscar film that you will certainly enjoy. And one that I will be adding to my movie collection.

Learn more about this author, Heather Lyon.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.