Seeing that this film has won basically every accolade known to humankind in 2008, I'm actually underwhelmed, especially considering how this is from the man who directed "Shallow Grave" and "Trainspotting". This time, he covers the life of a boy in India, one who competes for several million rupees in a TV game-show. His life flashes before our eyes as he is apprehended post-show, suspected of cheating, while we witness him growing up. Love, loyalty and the despicable caste-system is in focus here. I think the film was coherent, at times nearly made me cry (which isn't hard, though) but sorely missed any type of avant-garde and even - I think - a fresh view on love between the main character and his girl, which was quite supernatural in a bad way. As a collection of entertainment, this film is good, yet slightly disappointing. Including M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" into the soundtrack helped, though.

CD is in very poor condition. Makes so much noise, you cannot hear the movie. Sounds like someone might have tried to record over it.

Unless your exposure to modern-day Rome has left you completely callous about inhumanity, especially extreme violence toward children, you will not enjoy this movie! No about of "happy ending" can justify paying to watch the events leading up to it.

Slumdog Millionaire (Danny Boyle, 2008)

It's taken me quite a while since I saw this movie to get around to reviewing it, mostly because I really have no idea how I felt about it. Yes, I was uplifted, blah blah blah, but while I was watching the movie, I realized I was being manipulated, which bothered me. I'm used to needing to suspend disbelief when watching movies, but this one tosses belief right out the window from the first moment and never comes back to it. For all that I know that, however, it's an enjoyable enough movie.

In case anyone actually managed to miss the plot of the 2008 Oscar winner for Best Picture, it involves a young man, Jamal Malik (Dev Patel), who ends up on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. As the host asks him questions, we see flashbacks to pieces of his life (amazingly, in chronological order!) that give him the answers. Boyle uses this to take us on a tour of Mumbai slum life, the state of gang warfare in India, a romantic subplot, and much much more.

As long as you don't mind being herded into the pen like cattle, or don't notice, this is just about the perfect movie; it took home eight Oscars, and as I write this is sitting at #64 on IMDB's Top 250. Heady stuff indeed, but I still find myself unimpressed with the complete lack of subtlety to be found in the script. Granted, everyone involved did a bang-up job of bringing that script to life, but the script itself left a lot to be desired. It's shameless in everything it tries to do, but it garnered a whole lot of true believers, both behind and in front of the cameras. It had to, for the final product to be as technically fine as it is.

Technically, a stunning achievement. Plotwise, not so much. See for yourself and judge. ***

This is a silly film that does not deserve the plaudits it has been given. It plays to the current western ideology that the glorification of the self is the paramount aim in life, and money and celebrity are the great goals to pursue. The end is seamed predictably into the first scene, and the movie simply unraps its layers towards the inevitable conclusion. The tension built into the narrative is Disney schmaltz - that is, we are happy to follow the characters through their mistakes and hardships because we know all will come out right in the end.

This is not how life, let alone life in slum communities in India works. If such a film was made about American society it would be pilloried as a piece of Hollywood feelgood pap, profiting out of the naive chimera of the American Dream, as experienced by the poor. Set in India, it offers only a few colourful set pieces that show the hardships of slum life, rather than doing much to intelligently challenge and educate our perceptions of such societies.

Slumdog Millionaire has been dubbed the little film that could going from an almost direct to video film into an eight-time Academy Award winner including Best Picture. The film has an incredibly interesting premises, detailing how an illiterate street kid could be one answer away from winning $20M rupees on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire by showing how he knew the answers through a series of flashbacks detailing where his knowledge of the answers came from. Most of these flashbacks show the dangerous and hellacious aspects of life in the slums of India. The way young children are used and abused by the Fagan like hustlers is disturbing. Director Danny Boyle ultimately turns the movie into a love story, but he doesn't shy away from the gritty details of the life of the so-called slumdogs. Griping, intense and ultimately heartwarming, Slumdog Millionaire is worthy of all the accolades it has garnered.

Personal Opinion: Complete waste of time, not funny and not entertaining at all. At the time when the global recession hit the world, the Indian version of "American Dream" might distort people from real life struggle. Everyone has a chance is a true concept, but it is not elaborated properly in the story. Love line is so sweet with happy end, that it is just perceived as unbelievable.
Many people love the movie, and Oscar winning gives it the exposure boost. But does the picture really deserve the highest score? I doubt it.

Latika Latika!!! A smoke show!!! She is super duper hot and the movie is a must see. And now I must go see if rateitall is rating Latika!

Wow. My friend asked if I wanted to go see an Indian film that won Golden Globe awards. Um, sure. I was thinking it would be some weird independent flick. This movie was awesome. It's a story about a kid named Jamal Malik who swept Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and the movie flashes back and forth between his past as a petty thief to his present, getting grilled and beaten for knowing the answers to the gameshow. His brother, appearing by his side throughout the show becomes a gangster where as Jamal is more of a romantic, always chasing this girl named Latika. Very modern and a great soundtrack. I was captivated the whole time.

Another visually dazzling film by Danny Boyle. It's funny and disturbing at certain points (like all of his films) I can only knock off one star for predictability. . .but the cast, story, and direction were all solid. It's a different kind of love story that is hard to describe without seeing it for yourself.

Very compelling movie!

  May be the best movie of this year and must see one. Very practical movie and I should really appreciate the director's effort on producing this.