Release Date: November 12, 2008

(out of 4)

Impoverished life in Mumbai, India is dog eat dog. According to social anthropology it is the most populous metropolitan city in the world with thirteen million people, where poverty is so pervasive that a recorded 54% of the population lives in shantytowns and survival depends on bartering, stealing and sometimes murder of another for self-gain. In such an oppressive environment is it possible for an inspirational life to blossom? Director Danny Boyle has taken some potentially grim and mirthless material and has triumphantly directed it like a rip-roaring action movie spurred with lightening pacing as it traces one remarkable boy with an unbreakable determination. "Slumdog Millionaire" isn't really an action movie but it has the drive and ferocity of the best of them. It is a triumph in larger-than-life storytelling and a rousing adventure of not necessarily the body but of the spirit.

The deck is stacked high against its hero Jamel whom we see orphaned since childhood following the brutal death of his mother, exploited by would-be guardians whose occupation is in human trafficking, left adrift as a street urchin forced to survive on his own often through means of petty theft and scams of flushed WASP tourists. Jamel , from early adolescence and beyond, is constantly running away from gangsters or authorities. Jamel is a survivalist conditioned to watch his own back, but has outreach of love for one person. Latika is the girl whom he rescues early and continually through the years tries to rescue again. By the time Latika is a mistress possession of a brutal gangster by her late teens, she has resigned to her fate. But Jamel never gives up on her nor does he give up on his dream.

Jamel's dream is to earn enough money to whisk away his dreamgirl . Jamel and Latika are played by various actors and actresses, but the older versions of them are played by Dev Patel and Freida Pinto respectively. Patel and Pinto play their characters at the end of childhood and at the dawn of not only adulthood, but at the threshold of desperation. Jamel has the faith that there is always a last chance to improve their lives. From the start, “ Slumdog Millionaire” uses a flashback structure of Jamel appearing on India's game show version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” Yes, it's the same show as seen in America with three lifelines.

Appearing on the game show is more of an opportunity for Jamel to get Latika's attention (it's her favorite show as it is most of the people of India's favorite show) than it is to win money. The questions are reasonably tough and ascending in difficulty, but the film jumps back in time to show how Jamel's street smart education enabled him to answer such daunting questions. Will he go all the way to the top?

Due to Jamel's insolvent background and lack of formal education, authorities believe he is somehow cheating and he is inexorably interrogated in-between the taping just a couple of questions away from taking the ultimate prize. We are uncertain if Jamel will be allowed to return to the show, but India cheers on. We get a suspenseful game show drama that is equal to all parallel dramas that includes Jamel's boyhood friend who is a drug runner now reformed to assist in goodwill and Latika's newly inspired efforts to break her way to freedom. The drama merges than increasingly escalates, lending excitement for audience desire to see Jamel and Latika to break free to their own road to happiness.

All plot description aside, I feel compelled to mention that at about the three-quarter mark a scene takes place that I'll never forget. I've rarely been thrown so off-guard, and outsmarted, by a protagonist who makes a shrewder and better “street smart” decision than I would have made. My heart leapt enormously during those moments, it took several minutes for my emotions to get grounded again. It's impossible for me to explain the scene without giving it away, I can only assure you the enthusiasm of my emotion. But for blabber's sake, let's just say that Jamel's gut instincts are smart enough to dodge the offerings of a false Samaritan. Must be that Jamel's lifetime of wariness, vigilance and guardedness influenced a sound decision.

This is a movie without a doubt that looks at the lower depths of poverty, the eruption of urban violence, the wastes of young life. The movie doesn't dwell on misery, it only starts there, as the film inspirationally builds upon the self-actualization and triumph of its hero whom we want to see with all the desire in our hearts want to succeed. The film is like the blaze and bloodshed of “City of God” crossed with the underdog uplift of the “Rocky” formula. With a little Bollywood thrown in byway of a surprisingly flamboyantly but appropriately timed musical sequence.

The film is partially in Bengali with English subtitles, but the subtitles are terse – director Boyle knowingly opts for a purely visual story that depends on less frequent dialogue. The game show episodes, and most of the second half that is more dialogue-dependent, is predominately English. The film's appeal however should be ever-growing, which shouldn't be a problem since it was an audience favorite already at this year's Toronto film festival. This is the second film in a row that I've loved by Danny Boyle following last year's science-fiction adventure “Sunshine.” Like I said, I'm not going to forget this one. Ever.