Slumdog Millionaire

18th February 2009 • 0 Comments

Vital Stats

Director: Danny Boyle
Year: 2009
Starring: Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor, Freida Pinto
Certificate: 15

We give it:

This years must-see "feel good film" has the critics raving, but is it good enough for JaD?...

In a word, this film is brilliant. Right from the start, something feels different to the usual, generic, Hollywood pulp we subject ourselves to, and this feeling continues throughout the two hours which absolutely fly by.

The cast is enormous, and ranging in age from the infant to the infirmed, and everyone does a fantastic job. Maybe it's because we don't recognise them, or maybe because they are simply fantastic actors (I believe the latter), you are plunged headlong into this tale and genuinely believe everything that occurs on the screen. Dev Patel is a true leading man, without seeming to lead at all, and Anil Kapoor is the man that you love to hate, with every member of the audience falling just a bit in love with Freida Pinto by the end. For once in a film, the characters are much, much bigger than the actors playing them, and this is so refreshing it's positively mouthwatering.

But now, let me get one thing out in the open. This is not a feel good film. I can see why they marketed as such, because this is a tricky film to define. It fits the category of feel-good because it has a - somewhat - happy ending, but a film which contains this much violence is not a feel-good film in my book.

Ah the violence. This film is violent. Torture, child beating and maming and a lot of casual violence. However, and I don't often say this, it is entirely justified. These people inhabit a violent world, and so showing that is crucial to the reality of the film. If you're planning on having this film as a date movie, make sure your partner can handle it.

Slumdog is a film that moves you. It's great strength comes from it's extremely strong and engaging storyline, and the actors simple and effective portrayal of these most human of characters. That is why it gets the rare JaD five star rating.

See this film.