Victory!
Dec 24, 2008 |
By now, Slumdog Millionaire is on pace to win dozens of awards and make hundreds of critics’ top 10 lists, and for good reason. It is that rare feel-good movie that earns its feel-goodness through genuinely sincere and nuanced character development. In director Danny Boyle’s non-rabid zombie hands (with co-director Loveleen Tandan), the film also has a kinetic, driving energy, a masterfully detailed sense of place and a riveting music score. Only a huge missed opportunity for tonal closure at the end mars this propulsive film from being an absolutely perfect.
We open on a young poor Indian boy named Jamal, who is being interrogated by the police. He is accused of cheating on a game show based on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? After all, how can an uneducated orphan “slumdog” answer all of those hard questions? As the inspector watches the video tape of Jamal answering each question, we are shown in flashback how the unfortunate events in the boy’s life led to the knowledge of each answer.
When not contemplating the different ways the world could end (28 Days Later, Sunshine), Boyle’s favorite subject seems to be poor kids obtaining large sums of money. Unlike Millions though, Slumdog is decidedly for adults, and paints a sweeping, amber-toned picture of the slums of India that calls to mind Fernando Meirelles’ City of God. But Boyle injects a driving force into the narrative that is all his own; the drama is practically thriller-like in its urgency. The movie also improves on the book on which it was based, Q & A by Vikas Swarup, in that Jamal still has one more question to go before winning the jackpot. Instead of a flashback, the final suspenseful round of the game show happens in real time.
Everything is irresistibly involving up to the final question. No spoilers here: it’s just that screenwriter Simon Beaufoy (The Full Monty) misses a golden opportunity to tie things up by not allowing key characters to know certain things. The fact that the film ends on such a sloppy note somewhat ruins the worthiness of a truly emotional conclusion. If the characters’ fates are that pre-ordained, why do they bother even leaving the shanty since they’re waiting for their goals to be “written”? (yes, this is completely unclear unless one sees the movie, but anyone with any interest in cinema should see Slumdog anyway. Still, for an example of an ending of true organic inevitability, pop The Dark Knight in that DVD player again.)
Regardless of anti-climax, everything ends with a traditional, big Bollywood-style dance number, and the sense of fun and triumph as the audience exits the movie theater is infectious. As much as the film deserves acclaim in the categories for best picture, screenplay, cinematography and director, “Jai Ho” deserves an Oscar nomination for best original song. (”jai ho” means “victory.”) When a song is that winning, who cares if one doesn’t comprehend it. The same goes for that crucial plot point in Slumdog Millionaire’s ending. Even bad screenwriting judgment can’t ruin one of the best films of the year.
