Good day to all. The other day I sat down to watch a movie that until recently I was unaware had quite a resume of awards, and after watching it, I could see why. It was a 
rather ambitious film that made more of an impact than I bet it planned on making, even though it’s roughly a bollywood film. It’s compelling, it’s poignant, and it’s powerful to boot. What is this beautiful mess of a movie? We’re talking about Slumdog Millionaire.
I went into this movie not really knowing what to expect, but I definitely got more than I bargained for. The movie drew me in immediately with it’s rather graphic yet compelling displays of torture as well as the message about our protagonist Jamal. Clever film making there by Director Danny Boyle, in a way kind of setting us up for the rest of the movie while not giving away any of it’s crucial content. As long as I’m here I’m just gonna say that Boyle took on a lot here with this movie, conveying a tremendous amount of research no doubt, and displaying it in a very personal and emotional roller coaster ride through Jamal. You take in so much when you watch this movie, and I’ll talk about the outcome of that later, but Danny Boyle was able to almost make me hurl with his brilliance, and with that said I’m gonna be just a little colloquial here and say, “Holy Shit Dive!”
There are scenes in films or just any kind of media medium that have the ability to stick with us, sometimes they’re rad, and well, sometimes they aren’t. When I saw Jamal plug his nose and fall into the feces of hundreds of residents of Mumbai, followed by rising out of it like some Zombie out of a grave, I felt my stomach turn into liquid inside a blender. 
Whoa, I felt uneasy until the next day, but man you gotta give credit to Jamal. Now even though I’m a little light-hearted here, I have to say that within this stomach churning scene is a message, mainly that when your homestead and whole world is essentially the equivalent of yesterday’s trash pickup, you take what you can get, and when something’s happening, you don’t miss it. So when Jamal’s idol comes to town, he’s gonna get there, one way or another. That’s his life, that’s his reality. What we call another day, he calls an opportunity.
Now aside from standout scenes, Slumdog Millionaire really is this roller coaster ride with enough genres for passengers to fill the whole train: Drama, real life horror, suspense, 
nook’s and cranny’s of humor, love, and more, and they’re all screaming as they ride. It’s important to mention here that even though there are so many emotions working together, they just balance each other out so well that none of them overshadow each other. Granted this movie is more a drama than anything, but even so all the emotions along with that and otherwise work their way into us without any hesitation. Plus, they all work to convey a life that is both raw and real. Jamal as a contestant on Who wants to be a millionaire is able to answer the questions he’s faced with because the bitterness of growing up in the slums and moving from place to place was his teacher. That being said works to underscore a major 
theme in this movie: independence.
There’s such a strong sense of reality in this movie because we see Jamal among other children who are in a way left to raise themselves, and that also means look out for themselves. They live in a world of seemingly perpetual turmoil and come face to face with it everyday, though you can gather from that alone that what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger…. way stronger. The main characters in this movie are either deadly or entirely beautiful people, swept across the country by circumstance which documents their life events involving rising to great heights, or being sucked into the darkness of reality.
I should also like to comment that though it is primarily a drama, the love in this movie is not overbearing nor fast-paced, but rather slow and given a lot of weight. Jamal and Latika 
aren’t intent on sex or even high passion, but the love between them is appreciated and meaningful. You know they love one another, but when they’re together, it’s just so rare an occasion that just being together is enough. 🙂
I’m going to say yes, I would recommend this movie, though I have to say that after I saw it, I felt a little exhausted. Now does this mean I take back what I said about the balanced elements in this movie? No way. I must point out though that the movie for the most part really is fast-paced, and when you have a lot of elements, balanced or not, and they’re going fast, you’re going along for the ride. I did, and it took a lot out of me. I don’t think I’m going to be watching that movie again for quite some time merely because it. is. very. intense folks. Remember drama? Well it’ll hit you here. There’s a lot of scenes that are hard to watch, scenes that get under your skin, and scenes that make your heart bleed, but hey, Danny Boyle is just doing a good job, so points for him.
I say see it if you haven’t, but it would probably be best not to eat anything, at least substantial, before you do. Despite how great this movie is, you may just find your food coming out of the attic and onto the floor. Still though, don’t let that possibility stop you from watching this truly beautiful film.
Flicks With Maddog 