Slumdog Millionaire R
This lavishly gritty latecomer from 2008 (limited release in November) got the nod for Best Picture because they forgot about the others when Oscar time came around and critics and judges have only had short term memories. Even so, Danny Boyle's flashback heavy saga of a young Indian man on a game show about to win the big 20 million rupies (like dollars) prize is at times epic. Based on the novel, 'Q and A' which was more like the Price is Right than Who Wants to be a Millionaire. The game show is an odd parody of Millionaire in the film, with a corrupt host who has the contestant 'slum dog turned telemarketer' arrested for cheating (so he will quit or something) where he is brutalized and tortured in a police station most of the night. It turns out that the young man isn't cheating but does know the answers from his life on the streets, through sometimes nasty trials and narrow escapes. (One of them is a dive into an outhouse and another an escape from a psycho gang of adults who torture kids to make them blind peddlers). India's slum lifestyle is portrayed raw and uncensored. Mockery of 'millionaire' is sometimes fun though, especially the host who can't seem to say the word, and says, 'milonare' or what sounds like it with such glee. The contestant’s gangland brother and his lost and found love play into the story and flashbacks, and it has 'a Bollywood dance number' which just throws the mood completely. Rated R for a reason, even a hared R and is not recommended for children. Review by Adam Browne
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