This really was an incredible film. It is rare that film can truly balance everything that you want in a movie; there seems always to be a short coming, but "Slumdog Millionaire" does not have one. The plot of "Slumdog Millionaire" is really very simple, at least at its most basic. It is that story, even when you have seen it again and again, that when it is done right, really makes you believe that there is hope in the world against all adversity.
So this kid lives in the slums of India, and he has battled all manor of terrible events, just to get back to the true love of his life. "Atonement" tried this last year (well, not the slums of India part, but that does not really matter) and "Atonement" was awful. "Atonement" and "Slumdog Millionaire" have a lot in common besides their stories, even despite the face that one was excellent and the other was atrocious. They are both stunningly beautiful, have this age old plot, are Oscar nominees, and do not really make you laugh that much. There are more similarities but they are less important. When "Atonement" tried to accomplish these things, even in the scope of the stage it used to present it; a war, about 70 years of a characters life, sex in a library, et cetera, it could not bring to the audience into the passion of the plight for these characters. "Slumdog Millionaire" has, in some cases, similar scope; we meet the characters three times in their lives, and they walk and hitch-hike on trains all over a subcontinent. The difference lies in the directors.
It seems characteristic of Joe Wright to be somewhat disconnected from his subject; Wright sets you in their world but does not have the audacity to throw his characters in the audiences face, challenging their opinion of a world they do not know. Joe Wright's "Pride & Prejudice" was the same; while his concise, and beautiful telling was a nice departure from the 1995 version made for television, the actors in Wright's telling (all of them A-list in my opinion) did not bring the weight of 1995 version. Additionally, the performances in the 1995 version were spread over 5 hours of film. Wright's upcoming film, "The Soloist" looks good in trailers, but will be no different.
Danny Boyle, on the other hand, is uncompromising when he tells a story. Even in his less moving work "Sunshine", Boyle forced the audience to see eye to eye and into the souls of his characters. "Sunshine" is not really a great movie, more a cool movie that is awesome to see in theaters, but when I compare it to other Sci-Fi epics like Soderbergh's "Solaris", one really feels close to the characters. Needless to say, this comes from Danny Boyle's characteristic close-ups and sharp as a razor light shows. Danny Boyle has found a way to bring a character to the audience in an unusual way that makes a story stick in a viewers mind. Further more, Boyle does not seem limited by the talent of the like Chris Evans.
To speak specifically to this movie is difficult, it seems to me to be unique despite its reused parts. The screenplay by Simon Beaufoy has enough spins on the accepted story that this one is totally new. Some of these spins sent drops of dramatic blood into the veins of "Slumdog Millionaire"; scenes of hardships faced by the children in India made some in the audience gasp, but what else would you expect from a developing nation. The scenes of the slums in "Slumdog Millionaire" were far more moving than those in the documentary "Born into Brothels". Also, the spin that the game-show has in this movie provides a sort of backbone that other films do not have. There are three plots moving throughout most of this film, and when they harmoniously meet at the end, it really brings emotion off the screen. These gems of originality set "Slumdog Millionaire" apart from many other films I've seen.
"Slumdog Millionaire" deserves all the honour it can get from the Hollywood crowd. This seems a year that one of the more independent films can finally take the big prize. Not only does "Slumdog Millionaire" have everything and more that one would want from any Best Picture film, "Slumdog Millionaire" has originality and depth that set it apart from many films this year or any year.