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\n<\/p>\nA sharply paced, modern day fairytale set in the slums of India\u2019s mean streets, Slumdog Millionaire is a great addition to any movie fan\u2019s collection.<\/p>\n
The movie opens with Jamal (played as a teenager by Dev Patel) being tortured by a police inspector (Irrfan Khan).\u00a0 The inspector wants Jamal, a kid from the slums, to confess he has used fraud to win on India\u2019s version of the game show \u201cWho Wants to be a Millionnaire.\u201d\u00a0 If the inspector is convinced Jamal is running a scam, Jamal will not be allowed to return to the show for a chance to win the grand prize and will forfeit all of his winnings.\u00a0 Jamal explains how he knew the answers to the game show questions in flashbacks which show how Jamal used his wits to survive in the streets of Mumbai.<\/p>\n
Jamal\u2019s life story is a powerful one.\u00a0 Jamal and his brother Salim (played as a teenager by Madhur Mittal) are confronted by the murder of their mother in an ethnic cleansing riot and left parentless to survive on the garbage piles at the outskirts of town.\u00a0 They are \u201crescued\u201d by an evil Fagan like character who seeks to exploit children as beggars, thieves or worse.\u00a0\u00a0 Finally, they band together in gangs for self-protection and are exposed to the criminal underworld.\u00a0 The film\u2019s cinematography expertly weaves between Mumbai\u2019s polished city buildings and its poverty stricken slums.<\/p>\n
Jamal\u2019s older brother Salim seeks to dominate Jamal.\u00a0 He will betray him for money or for the girl Jamal loves (Latika, played as a teenager by Freida Pinto).\u00a0 Salim succumbs to violence to solve his problems and eventually becomes a hired thug for a powerful gangster.\u00a0 Still, he is bothered that Jamal will never forgive him for separating him from Latika.<\/p>\n
Jamal in contrast uses his wits to persevere and succeed.\u00a0 In a very clever scene he is able to escape being locked in a toilet room by Salim so that he can obtain the autograph of a famous Indian movie legend.\u00a0 Later he pretends to be a tour guide at the Taj Mahal to earn a living, or educates himself while working as a tea server.<\/p>\n
Jamal\u2019s goal is to be reunited with his beloved Latika.\u00a0 As a child, Jamal defies his brother Salim and offers Latika shelter from the rain shortly after the ethnic cleansing that killed their parents.\u00a0 Latika grows into a beautiful teenager.\u00a0 Salim behaves as if Latika were merely property or, at worst, a liability.<\/p>\n
Director Danny Boyle masterfully sows together the stories of the lives of Jamal, Salim and Latika.\u00a0 Will Jamal be reunited with Latika?\u00a0 Will truth and hope win over cruelty and despair?<\/p>\n
Special Features include commentary by director Peter Boyle and actor Dev Patel, commentary by producer Christian Colson and writer Simon Beaufoy;\u00a0 deleted scenes (including several interesting scenes between the police inspector and Jamal left on the cutting room floor); Slumdog Dreams: Danny Boyle & the Making of Slumdog Millionaire (a documentary about the making of the film); SlumDog Cutdown (an extended version of the movie\u2019s musical score set to scenes from the film); From Script to Screen: Toilet Scene (an in depth look at one of the movie\u2019s scenes); an Indian Short Film \u2013 Manjha; Bombay Liquid Dance (additional music from the film); and theatrical trailers.<\/p>\n
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