SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

Written by Simon Beaufoy
Directed by Danny Boyle
Starring Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Madhur Mittal and Irfan Khan


They say that every moment in our lives has led up to the one that we are experiencing right now; that it is written, predetermined or fated. I suppose this is true for me. I certainly wouldn’t be writing this review of Danny Boyle’s SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE had I not seen the film to begin with. And, according to Boyle, he would not have made the film if he didn’t need to dive into a project that was thoroughly grounded and connected to the earth after making his last sci-fi flick, SUNSHINE. So with fate appropriately in place and gently leading the way, Boyle has made a film that honours the concept itself and has a great time getting caught up in it instead of fighting against it. The trouble though is that by acknowledging every move in fate’s game plan, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE kills the mystery and makes fate into a trap instead of the comfort it could be.


The title, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, refers to a particular person, Jamal Malik (Dev Patel), as he grew up in the slums of Mumbai and is now in the unexpected position of being a finalist on India’s version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” Doctors and lawyers, they haven’t made it this far in the game and yet here is this young kid who works in a call centre on the verge of taking the big prize. The kid doesn’t even answer the phones; he gets the coffee for the people who answer the phones. How could he know the answers to all these questions? He has no formal education; he doesn’t come from a well-respected background. The answer is simple. He must be cheating. And so when the show breaks for the day, Malik is secretly taken into custody and tortured by the police so that he can explain to them just how he’s done it. Not surprisingly, he doesn’t take too kindly to the torture and he also doesn’t believe that he has anything to hide. Malik simply sits down with the detective (an underused Irrfan Khan) and explains, question by question, how his life experiences taught him everything he needed to know.


Boyle likes to play with style in his movies and SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is certainly no different than SUNSHINE or TRAINSPOTTING on this level. Thankfully, his style is never solely used to make up for a lack of substance but there is still something to be said about overdoing it. It is beautifully shot, full of life and colour, but it is often excessive and distracting. I mean, even the sub-titles are over-stylized, appearing anywhere on the screen and boxed by another bright colour to separate them from the image. I wish Boyle would learn to trust his natural instincts more and not feel he needs these embellishes to keep our attention. He just doesn’t do simple and all the while that he’s putting these flourishes on the image, he misses how the rigidity of Simon Beaufoy’s story is stifling the plausibility of Malik’s plight. Essentially, Malik must give us his entire life story as it relates to the game questions. The structure becomes deliberate and expected very quickly – question, explanation, question, explanation. There is no room for surprise and how boring is fate without that particular element?


SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is still a crowd pleaser. It’s just of the contrived and conventional variety but cleverly disguised as topical and concerned. Boyle does expose us to an original love story between Malik and his childhood love, Latika (played as an adult by Freida Pinto), told in the unlikely setting of the dangerous Mumbai streets. Poverty and corruption frame what is a genuinely believable and moving love between these two young actors. They are not only both beautiful but they are both innocent and sincere. You will root for them and you will delight in their ultimate outcomes that culminate in a jubilant closing credit sequence (stay in your seat, trust me). But if whatever events in your life led you to seeing this movie and made you into the kind of person that can see past the flare to the formal, then you know that fate is not as specific nor as simple to spot as Boyle seems to believe.

THE NAMESAKE

Written by Sooni Tarapolevala
Directed by Mira Nair


Ashoke Ganguli: My grandfather always said that’s what books are for, to travel without moving an inch.

THE NAMESAKE is a true treasure. It is a film that honours long-established convention and meaning by maintaining its own traditional approach. All too often, filmmakers take sides when telling a story about a culture taken out of context. Either the old is just plain too old for its own good or the new is entirely empty. Director Mira Nair begins this story of one family’s history by drawing her own conclusions but allows the film to learn the error of its ways at the same pace as its characters. The Ganguli family must learn to meet each other in the middle of its own extremes. Once there, they must learn to breathe soft and slow to allow both sides to hear each other and learn from what they are hearing. By finding a similar breathing pattern to establish its pacing, THE NAMESAKE is able to criticize and question the Americanization of other cultures while never losing focus on what matters, the experience and heart of the Ganguli family.


Giving history its due, THE NAMESAKE opens in Calcutta. A young girl by the name of Ashima (played by Tabu) returns home from singing lessons to find a male suitor waiting to ask for her hand in marriage. She does not run from what is expected of her nor does she go towards it blindly and obediently. Instead, she approaches with caution and an open mind. Before she even meets Ashoke (Irfan Khan), she is drawn to the exotic possibilities he can offer her when she finds his American shoes by the door. She slips the shoes on, seemingly trying to feel what kind of man wears these shoes and what kind of weight wears them down. It is a simple moment, one of many to follow, that both gives the film its charm and connects Ashima and Ashoke to each other. Theirs is a marriage arranged in the most traditional sense yet a great love grows from this beginning. The newlyweds travel to New York to start their life together while getting to know both each other and their new surroundings. The tenderness of their relationship is a moving testament to the importance of listening and comprehension.


The wide spectrum of colour that runs rampant through Calcutta is reduced to nothing in New York. The city is covered in snow and only the drab concrete manages to poke through. Before long, Ashoke and Ashima have their first of two children, Gogol (Kal Penn). With his birth, the central conflict is also born. As Gogol grows older, he grows further away from his heritage but more importantly, he grows further away from his parents. All families face these kinds of challenges. In the case of the Ganguli family, it is easy for the children to rebel against their cultural backgrounds as it is the most obvious target that will certainly hurt their parents. The parents had to adjust to the American way of life while the children were born and raised within it. It is difficult to reconcile the differences, which leads to the feeling that they are barely a family at times.


THE NAMESAKE is about healing and understanding. It does not focus on any one family member more than any other but rather on their shared similar experiences of happiness and loss. And though its visual basis is specific, its messages are much more universal. Never letting go of the past will never allow you to see your future. Still, refusing to acknowledge the past will leave your future just as hollow. If you’re not too stubborn though and you realize that everything that comes before you makes you who you are today and who you can be tomorrow, then you will learn to resolve both past and future to enjoy your present and the family you are fortunate to have surround you.