NAMELESS AND FAMELESS

next night, as they ran out of time the night previous). The film tells Jamal's life story as he sits with a police officer and goes through each question and explains how he knew the answer, which is always buried in a part of his life. We are taken from his early years in a Mumbai slum to his adventures at the Taj Mahal to his time as a chaiwalla to discover that this is not a film about Jamal's answers and his life story, but it is a love story as he pursues the untouchable Latika (Freida Pinto, Rise of the Planet of the Apes).

 

While I love movies, I'm not a guy who will often get deep into things like themes and lighting and anything further than plotline and acting. Past these basic things, I'm too out of my depth to really know what I'm talking about. So please forgive me if I lose all sense while I talk about how amazing the cinematography and musical score of this film is.

 

On the cinematography side of things, this film has always interested me. Slumdog Millionaire became the first film to win the Academy Award for Best Cinematography despite being predominantly shot in digital. For those of you who don't know, there is a large debate in the filmmaking world as to which is better out of film and digital. Film has a better, higher definition look while digital allows you to do more on the visual effects side of things. I can't say for certain that digital is what allowed this film to achieve its beautiful look, but I'm sure it had something to do with the smoothness of the rewind shot towards the end of the film. But of all the things the cinematography does, the best part for me was that it gave me what is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful shots I've ever seen in a film. As Jamal stands at a train station, looking down at the love of his life, we hear him calling out her name as she looks up at him, beaming. "Latika! Latika!".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The shakiness of the camera and strange editing to make it seem almost gif-like and not smooth like a normal film would be. This, mixed with the bright yellow colours and the look of pure happiness on her face, make this brief moment feel like a beautiful memory. It's as if it isn't really happening as we see it, as if it's being recalled by Jamal with the strictest fondness. And in many ways, that's exactly how this moment plays out.

 

It would seem that Latika is the core of both things that primarily make this film so beautiful, as the key example of music elevating this film to new heights is the song 'Latika's Theme', which takes centre stage during the final moment of the film (which I will not get into detail about). It's a track that, really, just encapsulates love for me. It's hard to listen to it without feeling some sort of spark has been lit inside of you. You can think about anyone you love when you listen to this song; your mother, brother, sister, best friend, partner, anyone fits the criteria. It's a beautiful song because we all have someone we can think about when it plays. It's the type of song you feel rather than hear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another compliment to this film's musical achievement is the way that A.R. Rahman, who does the music, was able to pump out 'Latika's Theme', the Oscar-winner 'Jai Ho' and eleven other songs in just 20 days, work for which he won the Academy Award for Best Original Score. This made Rahman the first Asian to win two Oscars in the same year. As Who Wants To Be A Millionaire host Prem (Anil Kapoor) may say, "what a player!".

 

Now to talk about the stuff I usually talk about. Acting! Dev Patel is strong in the lead role, although he doesn't necessarily stand out. He gets the job done. The beauty in the acting is how they get three different actors to play both Jamal and Latika throughout the years. While the editing doesn't necessarily make a smooth transition all the time (the scene with the train is one of the most sudden and obvious time jumps I've ever seen), it does do what it needs to do. Freida Pinto is beautiful as Latika, and Irrfan Khan is great as the Police Inspector who finds himself drawn into Jamal's incredible tale while also trying to remain indifferent and objective about the whole thing. One of the more pleasant surprises of this film is Anil Kapoor as the Millionaire host (or Millonaire, as he loves to pronounce it) and Madhur Mittal as the older Salim (Jamal's older brother). Kapoor has all the energy of a typical game show host while displaying an ugly side that rears its head when the cameras stop rolling. Mittal, on the other hand, plays a confusing. One that even after the final moment, we don't know whether to love or hate or, most importantly, whether to forgive.

 

There are so many things to say about Slumdog Millionaire, but in the end it's simply a beautiful film. Through its provocative cinematography and music, it tells what has been for me the greatest love story I've seen on the screen.  Without a doubt on of my favourite films of all time, I cannot urge you enough to go out and experience Slumdog Millionaire, be it for the first time, the second, or the hundredth.

 

Slumdog Millionaire won eight Oscars at the 2009 Academy Awards Ceremony. It won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Original Score, Best Original Song and Best Sound Mixing.

 

Rating: 9