Slumdog Millionaire wins big

In theaters Friday: New In Town, Taken, The Uninvited

New on DVD and BLU-RAY: Fireproof, Lakeview Terrace, Pride and Glory, The Rocker, Rocknrolla, Vicky Christina Barcelona

The best film of the year begins with a smoke-filled torture scene straight out of 24. Jamal, a young man from the slums of Mumbai, is on the verge of winning big on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and the authorities want to make sure this uneducated kid from the wrong side of the tracks didn’t cheat before they pay out the cash. After being beaten and even electro-shocked, a detective questions Jamal about his success. Reluctantly and painfully, Jamal relives his past as he explains that he learned the answers at integral points during his rough-and-tumble youth. The film then flashes back to his incredible story.

Orphaned as a child, Jamal and his older brother, Salim, subsist on the streets where Jamal falls hard for Latika, an orphan girl. Then a nightmarish incident separates Jamal from Latika for years, and Jamal and Salim forge separate paths. While Salim eventually works at the right hand of Mumbai’s wealthiest crimelord, Jamal becomes a humble “chai wala” (tea boy) at a call center. But Jamal never forgets Latika, his first love. In a desperate attempt to reconnect with her, Jamal becomes a contestant on Latika’s favorite game show, not to win money, but just hoping she’ll be watching and will know where to find him.

Last Sunday, the cast won an award for Best Ensemble at the Screen Actors Guild awards, and I couldn’t agree more. Slumdog features some of the best child acting I’ve ever seen. Films with multiple actors playing the same character throughout their life are difficult to manage (this film has three: Jamal, Salim and Latika), but the believable performances from the little kids made the climax mesmerizing.

The brilliant East-meets-West soundtrack played perfectly, matching the saturated, grainy texture of the film. A breathtaking, sun-drenched train sequence (set to MIA’s hit “Paper Planes”) when Jamal and Salim ride the blue train rails of India encapsulated the power of this story and the talent of director Danny Boyle. It’s the warm, freeform spirit that was missing from much of Wes Anderson’s India-set train drama, The Darjeeling Limited. Is Slumdog perfect? No, but with 10 Oscar nominations, it comes darn close. It reminded me a lot of 2002’s City of God, a remarkable picture set in the slums of Rio de Janeiro. Stars Dev Patel and Freida Pinto should have their pick of offers from both Hollywood and Bollywood.

Throughout Slumdog is a champion of storytelling; heart-warming, gritty and grand, but soulful, and weighted just so in the reality of the cutthroat ghetto of Mumbai. While Jamal’s story is one of triumph, his brother Salim’s is a tragedy, and the way Boyle intersects their arcs at the climax is brilliant. The resounding finale of the film easily ranks among the best against-all-odds finishes in the history of modern cinema. I’m talking Star Wars, Rocky, Chariots of Fire, Braveheart, The Shawshank Redemption. If you like feeling good, you’ll love Slumdog Millionaire.