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CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Dan Baker on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on March 21st, 2024, reviewing the new streaming series “Manhunt” – based on the bestseller by James L. Swanson – currently streaming on Apple TV+.
Slumdog Millionaire
Submitted by miss_niki on February 22, 2009 - 1:48am
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Directed by Danny Boyle
4 stars
::spoiler alert::
I was introduced to this film in two ways:
1. I saw a commercial for it in which there was a lot of Bollywood dancing & high-energy music.
2. My boss told me about walking out of it about 15 minutes in because the images were disturbing & they were duped into thinking it was the feel-good movie of the year.
So by the time I went to see it in the theatre, I didn’t know what to think. Was it a feel-good movie? Was it a horrifying look at the “real India”? I decided to shed all preconceived notions & just let it take me on a ride.
& by God, what a ride.
From the second the first image hit the screen, we were off. The story is brilliantly told, woven together through perfectly paced editing, compelling characters brought to life by genuine actors (not “movie stars”), & a smile-inducing, knee-pulsing music.
The journey of an orphan from the slums of Mumbai to “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”, told in flashbacks, is “a triumph of the human spirit,” “a delight,” “an Oscar contender,” & all of those other Hollywood review cliches that are cliches because, well, sometimes they really are true.
So by the time we caught up with our hero & finally got to that much-anticipated Bollywood dance scene, I had the answer to my original question: Was it a feel-good movie or was it a horrifying look at the “real India”?
Answer? It was both.
PS: On its second viewing, I found that I was eagerly anticipating seeing it again. I cheered louder (internally) this time, smiled broader, & dare I say *enjoyed* it more. Now THAT is an Oscar-worthy movie.
Slumdog Millionaire
Do I think Slumdog is deserving of the Best Picture Oscar? Well, I think it’s a fun, well-made movie that is easy to invest yourself in. It’s a classic underdog story times two because not only is our main character Jamal trying to get the girl, he’s trying to win the prize money in the game show (or not really trying but because of that, his fortunes seem to grow).
Odds are right now that it will win Best Picture, and to me it’s reminiscent of 1976 when Rocky beat out Network and Taxi Driver. Rocky’s a perfectly good movie—it’s another underdog story, and like this year, it was a pretty rough time in our country’s history. We needed some escapism and a feel-good movie.
On those points, Slumdog succeeds massively. It’s a lot of fun to watch, and it’s clever to use the questions in the game show to tell Jamal’s life. So if it does win tonight, I won’t be upset—I’ll just understand that the times are right for this movie.