Nothing, not even flesh-eating zombies, scares Danny Boyle. But what else would you expect from the director behind such diverse films as “Trainspotting,” “28 Days Later” and “Sunshine”? It’s no secret this Brit can spin a yarn like razor wire. And now with the release of Boyle’s latest, “Slumdog Millionaire,” not even the River Ganges can drown his dreams.
Set amongst the sprawling slums of the world’s third most populous city, Mumbai, India, the film opens up on teenager Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) on the cusp of winning 10 million Rupees on the Hindi version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.” Have you lost interest yet? Don’t feel embarrassed. Even Boyle himself didn’t think “some script about ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire'” was an exciting prospect. And that’s a great point. Good thing this movie’s about something else entirely.
Outraged and baffled by Jamal’s progress towards the jackpot, the police hold him for interrogation to investigate any possible cheating. With toes tied tight to a rusted car battery, the police inspectors demand to know how a common “slumdog” got this far when no one in India has ever come close. And the beginning poses just this same question: How did this happen? Did he cheat? Was it luck? Is he a genius? Is it written?
While that last suggestion may seem a little hokey, in the world of “Slumdog Millionaire” fate is just as real as the scars Jamal wears. “Everyone is absolutely bound together,” muses Boyle, “you sense it, you feel it.” It is this sense of interconnectivity, the strength of something bigger than us to impact our lives, which gives “Slumdog” such a visceral bite. Rather than making a film about a quiz show, or a feel good story about the impossible victory of a neglected street kid, Boyle bravely sinks his teeth into India’s spirituality.
As police review the tape of Jamal’s answers, Boyle violently cuts between the game show and Jamal’s story. Spiraling from one point in time to the next, the narratives begin to coalesce. The writing masterfully imagined by Simon Beafoy (“The Full Monty”) delicately crafts a world where all three stories are experienced at once. Soon the quiz show questions aren’t questions at all; they’re an outline for Jamal’s life. And as the story snakes across time and India, it becomes clear: the right answer may not be what you’ve studied, but what you’ve lived through.
Good thing Jamal’s got plenty of “knowledge.” Orphaned in early childhood after a religious attack took his mother’s life, he and his older brother learn quickly you’ve got to hustle to make it alone. But they aren’t alone for long. As Jamal befriends another “slumdog,” Latika (Freida Pinto), he falls for her hard. However, fate has different plans and Jamal loses Latika while escaping from an orphanage that makes the world of “Annie” look like the Waldorf Astoria.
Filmed entirely on location with lightweight digital cameras, “Slumdog Millionaire” doesn’t just invite you to idly enjoy the beauty of India; it drowns your senses in the wild miasma of Mumbai. With glowing cinematography by Anthony Dod Mantle, reminiscent of another slum-epic, “City of God,” cameras pulse and pour through the city’s every crevice. Where other films set in India turn away, Boyle keeps rolling. These aren’t just slums, it’s the edge of the world. The city transcends acting as mere setting; it’s a character unto itself. Home is where you make it; children live in ramshackle tents threatening to be swallowed by towering mountains of filth.
But articulating disparity isn’t the only reason Boyle keeps such a wide-eye. He understands that this film should be just as much about the city and its people as it is about Jamal’s struggle. That in communicating a culture, melodrama needn’t be your only voice: humor can communicate just as much as a jarring torture scene. “[Humor] is the grease that allows so much through, you can do so much more with humor than almost anything else,” asserts Boyle.
It’s just this understanding that stops the story from falling into simplistic clichés. This is not your typical love story, nor is it very typical of any genre fair. What Boyle has captured here are those rare moments in life, which we blissfully can never explain, the indefinable magic of a unique experience. And while “Slumdog Millionaire” on the surface doesn’t appear to be a typical “Danny Boyle Film,” it is Boyle’s subtle and carefully honed style that truly sets it apart from the rest of the pack.
