Slumdog Millionaire
Posted on December 1st, 2008
by Daniel Larison |
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Peter Suderman declares his intention to pan Slumdog Millionaire, and Freddie says that he distrusts the growing consensus of admiration for the film. Having seen Slumdog this past Saturday, I found it thoroughly enjoyable, but you shouldn’t let anyone persuade you that it is a masterpiece. This is not normally my reaction to movies that I enjoyed as much as this one–I tend to suspend my critical faculties and indulge in the most over-the-top praise–but it’s not quite that good. It is very much worth seeing and certainly the best thing by Boyle I have seen, but comparisons with Serendipity, albeit a much grittier version of the same, keep popping into my head. That is an unfair comparison in some ways, as this is much better than that movie, but that is also the word that best describes the plot.
There are what I thought were some entertaining nods to Bollywood tradition, even though this is plainly not a Bollywood movie despite its Mumbai setting, and the story also acknowledges some of the themes of traditional romances. Indeed, the story could fairly be dubbed the dastan of Latika-Jamal. Showcasing the city’s riots of 1993 in one part of the film, it has all the hallmarks of secularist, intercommunal love stories such as Bombay and Jodha-Akbar. The one and only dance number, in a direct tribute to Bollywood films, comes at the end before the credits in an amusing send-up of the corny exuberance of Bollywood romances. These things are fun to notice, but they also remind the seasoned Bollywood fan how close to the saccharine romance and gangster films the entire plot really is. With all respect for the talent of Irrfan Khan, who continues to outshine his co-stars in everything he has been doing recently from The Namesake to Aaja, Naachle, the acting on the whole is good but not outstanding. Anil Kapoor does a passable job as the host. All the same, Omkara has more psychological complexity and depth. Boyle very artfully combines Jamal Malik’s (Dev Patel) appearance on the game show with the backstory, but Dev Patel’s stoic performance leaves you wanting more.
These things are fun to notice, but they also remind the seasoned Bollywood fan how close to the saccharine romance and gangster films the entire plot really is.
I’m not that familiar with Bollywood, but I did realize pretty early on that the movie combined brutal realism and fairy tale plotting in an unusual way. If I’d thought that the movie was trying to pass itself off as an exercise in stark realism I might have disliked it, or been offended, since the outcome and a lot of the plot twists are so improbable.
But I thought they were aware of what they were doing and pulled it off. Like I said, I don’t know much about Bollywood. But it occurred to me that it has at least a slight similarity to some of the original Grimm Brothers or Andersen fairy tales, in which the backdrop for the fantasy is often exceptionally dark or violent.
All that said, I’d probably agree that it’s “thoroughly enjoyable” as opposed to a masterpiece.
well…knock me with a feather.
I( a liberal who enjoys your writings) discovered your blog based on a recommendation from John Cole. To discover that you are a huge Bollywood buff was something so unexpected :)
I am also a huge Bollywood fan, there something still joyful and innocent about Hindi movies( most of them anyway).
Whoops, when I said “it” has a slight similarity to European fairy tales “it” is Slumdog Millionaire, not Bollywood. Sorry to double-post.
You may find this very negative review interesting if not persuasive:
http://www.nypress.com/article-18907-the-mis-education-of-a-millionaire.html
Well, it’s certainly a different take. Even though the descriptions are not entirely wrong, I have to say that I don’t really recognize the movie I watched in that review.
Armond White is semi-insane; I disagree with him often but always find his reviews worth reading.