[...] Kevin Buist, “Some will say that many of my issues with the film are due to the fact that I’m not seeing it as Boyle’s homage to Bollywood. While it’s true that the film is deeply indebted to the colorful and melodramatic musicals that are a mainstay of Indian culture, I don’t think the film holds up even under this reading. The key problem goes back to the lead actors’ performances. Great Bollywood players are not naturalistic by any means, they are exaggerated, playful, and incredibly charismatic. It seems like Boyle couldn’t decide which way he wanted Patel and Pinto to play it. Should they be overly theatrical to match the color and up-tempo editing? Or should they play it more realistically, two normal people brought together by extraordinary circumstances? In the end they do neither…Slumdog Millionaire is not without merit. It’s nothing if not an ambitious film, and certain scenes do work well. But ultimately it’s an annoying cacophony atop a predictable structure.” [...]

sometimes you bump head on into genius, and all you come out with is
a litle scrape on your forehead. your loss, kevin.

Gee, um….
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I’m surprised that you found the story both straight-forward and a mess–at the same time?? Dev Patel did show other sides to the Jamal’s character. He worked odd jobs diligently, refusing to follow the gang life of his brother Salim. He also saw right through the show’s host, not believing anything that came out of his self-absorbed mouth.
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You seem to forget Salim’s ongoing Muslim prayers. Salim became reformed because his brother was clearly becoming ‘bigger’ than he was (remember Salim’s face every time he looked at his bro on TV?), bigger than Salim knew that he could ever be, or hope to be. Jamal was no longer just a jo-boy working ‘loser’ jobs in Salim’s eyes so he chose to pay homage to this at the end.
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I’m so glad the story didn’t overly focus on the love story because (a) we would have lost interest in the love story’s outcome much sooner, and (b) it would have taken away from the bigger aspects of the film i.e. surviving then thriving after life as a slumdog.
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I am so glad that this movie wasn’t done in a traditional Bollywood style–something I personally could never get into–as I wouldn’t have liked it as much.

[...] Slumdog Millionaire Movie Review and Critic offering, Slumdog Millionaire, is generating a fair amount of buzz here at Telluride. Not unlike last year’s Juno, the film showed up in one of the mysterious TBA slots, delighting audiences made weary by a slate of good but somewhat depressing films, such as Hunger, Waltz with Bashir and Adam Resurrected. Slumdog Millionaire follows the story of Jamal Malik, an unlikely winner of India’s version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Jamal, his brother Samir, and fellow orphan Latika, manage to survive an almost absurd number of scrapes, the memory of each one coincidentally providing Jamal with answers to the game show questions. The film is big, fast, fun, and colorful, but ultimately a mess. A movie review and critic By Kevin Buist [...]

This film can hardly be compared against any other films. Maybe you’re trying to look at it in too confined of a space.

I completely agree with you. While I was watching the film in the theater, I felt like I was taking crazy pills… The reviews were so glowing and yet I was NOT enjoying the movie. So contrived, so long winded, so unconvincing. I thought the idea of mixing hollywood and bollywood conventions was interesting, I just wish the film delivered on the concept’s potential.

I read the book the movie was loosely based on, which I highly recommend, Q and A by Vikas Swarup. It was a fascinating read, a fairy tale rich in vivid sensory filled details with a coherent plot and lovable characters. I think that Dickens would have praised it. I enjoyed the magnificent visual aspects of the movie - the flow/flash of life and poverty in India conveyed in Bollywood style. I thought that alone made it worthwhile. But, I felt that it didn’t do justice to the book, although that may not have been a prime objective. It omitted central critical relationships and added others, creating a more stripped down and caricatured tale. It used native language initially and then switched to English, which seemed jolting and unrealistic. And, lastly, while infinitely pleasing in the moment left little to ruminate about afterwards…which for me is always an essential…love that post movie wrap up…

i agree with you one most things. you cannot even understand how the two leads fall in love, and why. being an indian myself i find it very stupid how the boys suddenly learn english and that too with western slang like ‘pussy’ and the punctuation of sentences with ‘man’. Either keep it in hindi with subtitles (the way it starts off) or give them the real broken english that people who frequent slums actually speak. it is a movie that is not well researched or authentic. chaiwallas do not dress like jamal, and a woman grabbed by 3-4 men at a very crowded mumbai railway station usually does prod people into action esp. when one of them takes a knife to her face. its certainly quite outrageous…. plus did i get a tinge of a brit accent from dev patel. i hope not, for his sake!

Thank God I am not the only one who shares the sentiment. I have never seen a plot more loosely put together.

A completely original movie-going experience? Please, tell me this “film” is one the petty crimes to which Jamal, Salim and their female friend Latika have resorted. What a contrived and trite story. Who even cares about Jamal? He is so love sick that I think he felt his torture was worth the pain, if only to meet Latika….give me a break. And Boyle should have waited until he completed Movie Making II before resorting to such techniques as …. the pan…. But I will admit I left with a high;outright disgust complete with a “say what just happened”? Am I the only viewer who caught the violence embedded in the center of every scene? Was that the point? All love is torture? And all that gets washed away with a musical number to top musical numbers? Someone is pulling a scam here…… and even an American $100.00 won’t make it all better for this viewer.

Kevin

Prime concern here is the article that i just happned to stumble upon…..reason for which being the movie “Slumdog millionair” , which i just happned to watch a couple of hours ago, and was intrigued or disappointed by the word ‘MESSY’ used in this article…..and hence my point of view.

You do not realise that inorder to hear sweet music one’s fingers need to stike the piano…..,You how ever do like the music you heard but find the striking fingers…..to be….. ‘MESSY’ …..thats your point of view.

Good luck with that…..

I loved the movie……very much close to my alltime favourite,……reasons for which are not apparently appropriate.
God Bless.

After reading this criticism, i think the writer thinks of all those people responsible for making this movie(slumdog millionaire) a golden globe success as idiots or dumbmouth.

have been looking all over Internet for reviews and comments and see very little mention of how disturbing it is to watch especially the first half-hour of this film—a gratuitous slam of savagery and brutality carried along by editing cuts reminiscent of car commercials. Watching children mistreated and abandoned, tortured and foresaken, totally without context or character development (such was not the case with City of God)—is this the entertainment people are talking about? My stomach was churning and I was considering leaving the movie when it became apparent that this was going to be a Hollywood cowboys and indians feel-good movie after all, but in the end, I am sorry I stayed. I don’t like to be manipulated by entertainers. I do like to be enriched by art. But my question is, why have so few people from our so-wealthy Western societies commented on the feeling they have in the first half hour? Can you be human and live a life so privileged in comparison and not feel— and I mean viscerally feel—sick at the images you see?

alrite..everytings fine..but where is the script…i thot the whole script was weak…and i found the scene where the lady says “this is the real america” to be a little funny…she hugging the little jamal…am not against americans or anyting..but for some reason i laughed at tat scene..everycountry has an underbelly to itself..being an indian..felt disturbed..makes u get the feeling that everyone in india is crooked..no sort of hope in this country unless u win a 2 crore..camera,editing,sound and music were all top notch..i wud say an average film.A R rahman was phenomenal..

the whole “how did they suddenly learn english” argument is pretty weak…they did it the same way they learnt hindi. english is also a native indian language.

i thought the movie was one of the few that captured the true, intense realities of some indian regions and lifestyles.

I feel like I’ve blown $11. I would have been more willing to overlook the outrageous premise if I could buy at all the romance between Jamal and Latika. But I couldn’t, so the far-fetched story plot stands out even more and the idea that “it is written” falls flat. It is written? Where? And why should I care?

A few other things that bothered me:
- Who Wants to Be a Millonaire is not a live show.
- Why does Jamal use a lifeline for the obvious question of what does it say on the national emblem of India, the choices of which _____ triumph(s) are A. The truth; B. Lies; C. Fashion or D. Money? Not that I’d ever know but I can pretty easily figure it out from the choices given. Is he an idiot? And the rationale for he gives to the police guy is pure BS. The real answer is that the remaining two lifelines were needed for extra “drama” for later.
- Tourists do not hand out $100 bills to natives. Of course, this is another contrivance for one of the questions but it could have been contrived a bit better.
- How does a blind Indian kid know who is on American currency? Moreover, how does a blind, non-English speaking kid know and a sighted kid, who is fluent in English, does not?
- As to to the matter of how Jamal and Salim know English, in answer to eddy, English is not a native language in India, it is an OFFICIAL language that is taught in school. There is almost no chance that two street urchins would pick it up on their own, learn it fluently and then converse almost exclusively in it between themselves.

There are other things that bother me but I’ve gone on long enough.

How do the kids learn to speak so good english? Why do Germans in WW2 movies speak english with an American accent? Why do Scots in Braveheart speak Australian english? It is a movie people - wake up. What possible purpose would it have served to have the movie go on in Hindi for the entire film, other than to obscure the plot for those viewers who have difficulty following subtitles? If you have such a problem accepting the use of english in an english movie, watch the dubbed hindi-version instead.

Slumdog Millionaire is a rags-to-riches fairy tale, that along its way tries to show _somewhat_ of the dark underbelly of life in the Indian slums. It is not a documentary. Note the key word here is “Fairy Tale”. Jamal is a fairy tale hero - ‘Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves’ set in India. Kids from the slums do not go on game shows and win 20 million rupees in reality, you know.

On those merits, Slumdog MIllionaire is a brilliant film.

Trying to plumb greater depths or accuracy in its plot is bound to see one disappointed, and is rather pointless. Slumdog is an allegorical tale about having the tenacity to love and to believe in a better future in the face of the evil of world. No more… and no less.

read review and the comments posted -
and all said and done -
the movie is mediocre and if u look at it without background brainwashing of all the glossy promos and glowing professional reviews there is nothing really special or different about it that deserved all those oscars

a r rehman makes great music - personally i feel that his other/earlier works esp Roja were the best - but thats not the issue - he deserves the award for his creativity -

apart from the quality or lack of it in the film -
just analyse who benefits if such a hollywood-ized indian-scene and story movie gets such huge exposure and limelight?
and do remember it is not a Indian movie -
its essentially made by a foreign chap and by a foreign studio and foreign technical staff foreign actors etc
not someone who would understand India per se
its a story set in India and told by a foreign chap

i wonder about his perspective (or rather the lack of it) on India

it reminds me of the few years in the 1990s where Indian girls suddenly started getting Miss Univ and Miss World type awards -
that was the period where max MNC branded cosmetics and healthcare products were launched here
the pagents provided the necessary exposure and foothold for these products in the huge Indian market

similarly now most hollywood studios have entered the indian market in 2008, esp on the marketing / distributor side.
the past 4-5 big films starring major indian actors have been flops translated as heavy losses for these players.
Indian film studios/technical people are not as good as the hollywood studios - as better cameras editing tech etc is available there.
Indian tech people cannot compete with the overseas tech people -

this movie has been used to set a benchmark for the technical expertise -
and i foresee that several Indian studios will now go over to the ‘foreign’ tech
which might translate into losses for the Indian technical jobs
second is the market - unless the china movie trade opens up India is the biggest market available

and on a personal note -
a director makes a movie as he ’sees’ the story - have no issues with that
(actually i loved the book so was interested in seeing the movie)

but if danny boyle ’sees’ India as what has been portrayed in the movie - i am really sorry for him and all those who think that it was a great portrayal

my India is NOT a trash heap

so was just analysing the movie as a event and what it could portend for the future of the Indian film industry

and if the beauty pagents are any indication i doubt any movie made India by an Indian chap using Indian technical staff actors etc would ever get an oscar

Who wants to be a Slumdog?

My son and I suffered the ignominy of having been stopped by the security guards at the Cinema theater entrance that was screening “Slumdog Millionaire”. The problem was that my son was under aged according to the guards, and the film was rated ‘Adults Only’. After pleading with the guard for a full five minutes pulling out the ace defense of ‘Father knows best what is good for son, not the censor board’, we were allowed inside the theater. My son and I secretly admired our audacity in the dark shadows of the cinema hall. After getting ourselves some nachos and not-so-fresh salsa, we settled into our seats and got ready to watch the much hyped oscar contender - ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.

Much later, on our exit from the hall after watching the movie, we secretly thought to ourselves and confessed to each other later, that we wished the guard had not allowed us in after all.

I really feel that this was a left handed delivery of a western accolade meant to thank India for exposing it’s underbelly in all its glory. Hairy private parts and all.

However, I am not here to rant but to understand. So understand we will.

SDM has a few tested strong threads that make the western movie creation a huge success. Here is a movie with an accepted Operating System, to use a PC paradigm. ‘Who wants to be a Millionaire’ and its equivalent of ‘KBC’ are game formats that the east and west agree upon. We know the anchor, participants, the nervousness, the lifelines, the stupid errors and the mind boggling success stories of the game show.

While India knows all too well some of the rogue runaway applications such as slums, children forced to beg, religious riots, gang warfare, the west on the other hand needs occasional confirmation to the ingrained accepted truths regarding an under developed country.

Such rogue runaway applications are hidden and unknowable, unless exposed by the glare of a western light and camera to a western audience.

Moving gracefully but rapidly between a known Operating System and its many unknowable rogue applications, the western audience is being helped in taking a flying leap from the known to the unknown and back, including a vicarious slow motion dip in a cesspool. The karmic rights of dipping in the Ganges to absolve us of our sins are definitely not real and ‘oh soo yesterday’. The dip in the cesspool is the order of the day here in the Real India.

It happens to us everyday and we don’t bat an eyelid before we take the plunge into the Real India. We are sometimes forced to bat an eyelid or two to stop getting shit in our eyes. But then again we were not the intended audience, were we? We were the intended characters, remember?

About twenty years ago, while I was roaming the western world, I happened to read a daily newspaper in a city called Milwaukee in Wisconsin USA. The Milwaukee Sentinel had dispatched a brave journalist to report happenings from India. There was no Iraq or Afganistan war or even the 9/11 attacks to write about or worry the safe American citizens back then. It got to be boring reporting just a cyclical economic downturn. The brave journalist wrote about elephants and tigers that might leap out at you from the roadsides. He even wrote about a snake charmer climbing up a rope and vanishing into thin air. The small Indian student community was outraged at the false reporting of New India and I philosophized, much to myself, that such journalistic forays were meant to keep the western audience convinced that they live in a *known* world. Nothing has changed my western friends, said the journalist. The snakes, elephants and tigers are still roaming the streets of India. You already know what I am confirming to you from out here. Don’t waste your breath with a trip. Read the newspaper.

The western audience has come a long way and will not be fooled so easily by that. It will no longer fall for the Indian rope trick anymore. But hell, the dark secrets, the real truths are still there lurking in the slums of India irrespective of the glossy portrayal by Thomas Friedman of how Infosys has caught up to the ways of the hyper start-ups in the Silicon Valley. The world may be flat Thomas, but sure as hell butt-ugly in spots. Like the proverbial doubting Thomas poking his finger into a wound to ascertain the real resurrected master, a slow-mo dip in the slum to convince us that the underbelly is real and out there.

The western reaction to this movie is obvious. Tell me the truth, show me the slums, and convince me that I live in a better world! Give me a contrast, tell me life isn’t so bad in the land of plenty.

Thanks Dave for the movie. Seems to me that an Oscar will be a token appreciation to a punchered step-knee tyre of a Bolywood steam-roller. Is there nobody to stand up and notice the Emperor’s clothes? Maybe his bizarre underbelly, with hairy privates and all is leaving us dumb founded?

Always remember, characters in a movie are not supposed to wash up and transform into sanitized audiences of a movie. I wish the security guards really barred you from doing that.

Now take a plunge, will ya?

What a great review, i totally agree,
that movie is a load of crap….

Danny Boyle sucks balls…

Jason