Directed by: Danny Boyle
Starring: Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor, Irfan Khan
Rating: R

Dev Patel and Anil Kapoor in Slumdog Millionaire. (Courtesy photo)

You have to suffer a little to really appreciate good fortune. In the case of Slumdog Millionaire, Danny Boyle’s magnificent romantic epic, you have to suffer a lot. But it’s more than worth the misery. Some are calling Slumdog Millionaire a feel-good movie. That diminishes not only the potency of Boyle’s exploration of the ghettos of India, but also the actual emotional surge of the finale. Boyle and screenwriter Simon Beaufoy have taken Vikas Swarup’s novel Q & A and turned it into a love story that’s cinematically unique and wonderfully accessible at the same time. The tale plays like Dickens, if the author had lived long enough to see the age of TV game shows. Thankfully, Slumdog Millionaire has little to do with Who Wants to Be A Millionaire, nor is it an exploration of the impact of such shows on everyday people, thank the movie gods. It’s not even about the temptation of instant riches. It’s a story about survival and love against all odds. Boy, did I do some crying.

Jamal (Dev Patel) is one question away from winning the Indian Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. But this young ‘slumdog’ has no business doing so well, and the show’s host (Anil Kapoor) is so certain he’s cheating that Jamal is brutally interrogated by a police inspector (Irfan Khan). In revealing how he answered each question, Jamal also tells the story of his life. We follow Jamal and his older brother Salim as they go from the slums of Bombay to orphan life to training as child beggars (have I mentioned Dickens?). They’re joined by Kalika, who bonds with Jamal, to Salim’s resentment. There’s something broken inside Salim, and we know all too well that his future is dark. Jamal and Kalika are separated and reunited over the course of more than a decade. As their love for each other deepens, their lives grow further apart. The three characters are played by actors at three different ages. Everyone is wonderful, with the youngest Jamal and Salim—Ayush Mahesh Khedekar and Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail—true standouts. Neither had appeared on film before, yet both are mesmerizing young presences. It’s a huge credit to Boyle that he’s able to keep us engaged with each character as he grows into a different performer. In fact, we’re much more than engaged. Slumdog Millionaire has the kind of danger-around-each-corner that makes you unconsciously clench your jaw for two hours. Danny Boyle has proven to be a director with an almost frenzied need to tell stories in unexpected ways. He doesn’t always succeed, but with such energizing, innovative films as Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, and now Millionaire, Boyle has worked himself very near the top rank. Simon Beaufoy has not impressed since his affectionately overrated script for The Full Monty elevated him to the big time. But this is a big-time adaptation, an absolute stunner of a script.

Outside of Khan and Kapoor, both of whom are major figures in Bollywood, the cast is unknowns and barely knowns. Boyle seldom works with high-profile actors, though they tend to turn into them soon after working with him. Patel may have the right mix of intelligence and intensity to join Ewan Macgregor (Shallow Grave), Robert Carlysle (Trainspotting), and Cillian Murphy (28 Days Later) as actors who became stars under Boyle’s direction. Kapoor is good as the smug TV host who dreads to share the spotlight. The great Irfan Khan, who I thought gave last year’s finest performance in The Namesake, turns a very average police inspector into another beautifully tuned performance. But the movie is truly an ensemble collaboration of the nine performers playing Jamal, Salim, and Kalika.

Slumdog Millionaire is a complete film. Anthony Dod Mantle’s camera races through Bombay like a street dog hungry for scraps. Composer A.R. Rahman, who has supplied more than 100 scores to Bollywood films in only 20 years, captures the ragged, pulsing lives of Jamal, Salim, and Kalika. The art design, supplied primarily by India itself, is a constant juxtaposition of beauty and unimaginable filth. Slumdog Millionaire is rough. Though the violence is seldom explicit, the reality of life in the slums of Bombay—now of course tragically in the news under its present name, Mumbai—is wrenching. But if you think you’re up for it, take a chance and see Slumdog Millionaire. It’s a very special film and a very rewarding movie-going experience.

Alex Manugian lives in Sherman Oaks, California. He grew up in Groton and has reviewed movies for Harvard residents for many years.