BREATHLESSLY PACED and with bright colors amid an impoverished setting, "Slumdog Millionaire" is that remarkable little film find we've been waiting for all year.
It is a fable-fantasy of love amid the slums in India, set in direct contrast to the obsession with wealth that seemingly rules the rest of society. You will rejoice in the rags-to-riches story of a poor orphan boy who just wants the girl but also reluctantly learns about fame and money.
With a cast of unknowns and a budget that wouldn't pay the coffee bill on a standard Hollywood set, this film will emerge as one of the frontrunners in this year's Oscar race.
The reason is a simple one: It sends the audience away with hope and exhilaration even though it might have broken their hearts along the way.
It also offers superb technical achievements, particularly in the area of film editing. Chris Dickens' cuts from poverty to the quiz show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire " and from past to present keep us riveted as well as challenged.
Anthony Dod Mantle's remarkable cinematography ranges from dramatic close-ups of abject poverty to broad vistas of an Indian world that is seldom visited in mainstream movies.
Add to this a festive musical score by A.R. Rahman, complete with a best-song candidate in the lively "Jaiho" Bollywood finale, and you have a film that is as engaging to listen to as it is to watch.
How about this? Give it the Oscars for editing and musical score for starters, and we can work against the odds for the rest of the race.
The plot is ultra simple and might have been both maudlin and predictable in the hands of a lesser director than Danny Boyle.
Jamal, the central character, is born into poverty but has a steel trap for a mind. He pretends to be a guide at the Taj Mahal and hustles tourists. (He steals their shoes after telling them they must remove them as a sign of respect).
This petty thief is in love with Latika, a childhood friend. He gets on the Hindi version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire " more to impress her than to win money.
When he answers question after question correctly, he becomes a national hero, seeking the 20 million-rupee grand prize (about $420,000).
The show's producers and the police figure he must be cheating.
But how? They try to beat the truth out of him. Flashbacks of his squalid youth reveal how he knows the answers.
British director Boyle is responsible for the lowlife tale of heroin addicts on the make in the profane "Trainspotting" as well as "Millions," a tale of a little boy who envisions a surprising use for an ill-gotten fortune. In "Slumdog," he uses a feverish energy to push the movie forward in a way that leaves audiences gasping for breath.
Actually, it is an old-fashioned Hollywood movie about romance in the "West Side Story" vein that masquerades as an "independent" art movie.
About 30 percent of "Slumdog Millionaire" is in Hindi, with subtitles annoyingly spread in different places around the screen. It's a needlessly distracting device that ends up being one of the movie's few minuses.
"Slumdog" won the Audience Prize at the Toronto Film Festival in September. It is almost certain to get a best-picture Oscar nomination over expensive Hollywood competitors, too.
The cast of unknowns is led by Dev Patel and Freida Pinto as the young lovers.
The script is adapted by Simon Beaufoy from a novel called "Q& A" by Indian diplomat Vikas Swarup.
Beneath the movie's vivid colors, there is a tapestry of class distinctions that gives us new information about India, a civilization it would behoove us to learn a great deal more about.
"Slumdog Millionaire" sheds the quaintness of previous popular films set in India and shows us a modern world determined to survive with a massive middle class that knows the rules but just might break them.
Boyle dares to use familiar cliches in a way that enthralls us. This film is a triumph of style and, yes, we are rooting for Jamal to make it all the way to that final question.
Maybe, even, all the way to the Oscar.
Mal Vincent, (757) 446-2347, mal.vincent@pilotonline.com
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
subtitles
Mal's comment about the subtitles is unwarranted. The way they are done, they actually become a captivating graphic element. Their background color and placement in the frame add to the overall quality of the film, unlike the standard subtitling in foreign films.
I would hate to think that the subtitles -- or Mal's opinion of the way they are presented here -- would discourage anyone from seeing this brilliant film.