Slumdog Millionaire is a modern fairytale that takes apredictable journey. However talented director Danny Boyle understands that it isn’t the destination that’s important, it’s the trip itself.
With a grim, yet visually fascinating view of the Mumbai, Indiaslums, Boyle hooks you with his intimate recreation of the courageous, yet sometimes joyful struggle for survival young Jamal Malik faces.
Avisual stylist, Boyle has a great instinctive eye. He knows when touse a close-up, move the camera, use a child’s Point of View and whento give the film stock a grainy, or opulent look. He also has theability to keep the story focused on the small battles, while givingthe story an epic feel with his use of long shots and great sense oflocation.
Kudos should also go to cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle and editor Chris Dickens who were rightfully nominated for Oscars.
But I often found myself not emotionally involved in Slumdog. Too often it feels like a long music video and theflashback/flashforward storytelling device often sucks the suspense outof the plot. You know that Jamal will survive a life or deathsituation when you see him alive and well ten years later. You couldargue that the final question of what happens during the final questionon “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” is still unanswered to the end.
Furthermore the characters are not three dimensional. Bad guys arevery bad guys and good guys are saints, with one exception, Salim, Jamal’s older brother, who is often a paradox of good and evil. Thestory lacks complexity and layers.
Perhaps my inability to be emotionally engaged throughout is just mypersonal aversion to the genre (fairy-tale) itself, with it’sinevitable happy ending and stock characters. I prefer my films to bemore emotionally or intellectually challenging. After all I preferred2005’s Capote to the best picture winner Crash. One was subtle and complex and the other obvious and manipulative in my opinion.
Oh and I think Shawshank Redemption is just a good film and not a great film. This causes arguments and people throw stuff at me.But all personal opinions aside, Slumdog Millionaireis an exhilarating experience and perhaps a good fairy tale is what weall need right now in the harsh reality of America in 2009.