What uncanny timing that just after I'd viewed “Slumdog Millionaire” on DVD a disturbing news story surfaced concerning one of the child actors. I’ve decided to proceed with reviewing the movie as begun before the news revelation. And I will close with reference to what has reportedly developed in the life of the child and an internet link to one report.*
I began viewing “Slumdog Millionaire” with no particular expectations and was very quickly pulled along on a stunning ride that engaged me in so many, many ways. It played on all the emotions: One moment I was laughing incredulously at the most repugnant things (how far would you go to get an autograph?), then I was gripped by fear, dread, sorrow.
An opening scene appears to be that of an interrogation by military police of a political prisoner. We learn fairly quickly, however, that the apparent insurrectionist is a young lad from the poorest, lowest echelon of society, and that his ‘crime’ is that of winning the biggest cash prize ever on Mombai's edition of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.” He surely must have cheated—how else could this poor skinny kid, this slumdog, know enough to answer all those questions correctly when professors and others of higher education and station in life had never done so?
After a mishap in the interrogation process the police chief tries a different approach. Rather than attempt to physically force Jamal to confess to cheating, the chief instead plays the tape of that evening's quiz show. After the first question—met with Jamal’s correct answer—the police chief pauses the tape and asks him how he knew the answer. This process is repeated for every question on the show. Each time, we flash back to an event from Jamal's past and we see that it pertains directly to the question and his resultant answer. It is soon evident that the topic of each question coincides with an indelible memory from Jamal's past and, through each flashback shown, his life from young boyhood to this moment in the police station is slowly revealed. Through this storytelling device, bit by bit and quiz question by quiz question, the story of Jamal and his older brother Samir is told.
Flashback technique has been employed in many, many movies, but it somehow seems inspired and new here. Perhaps it is due to the affect of light and color or the jig-jag way in which the camera follows the hectic motion of their lives. Or maybe the perceived novelty is due the way subtitles seem to be haphazardly mounted on the screen, looking for all the world like colorful, handwritten strips of paper labeling photographs in a scrapbook.
In fact, the flashbacks do comprise a scrapbook of sorts: images and moments burned in Jamal's memory, the history he and Samir share, the cruel and raw realities through which they move and from which they then move on. From their young and rather innocent lawlessness, to their sudden loss and fateful meeting with the young girl Latika, they grow up riding the waves of increasing darkness and cruelty and flow on.
If the two brothers had had time to reflect on the unfairness and meanness they encountered they might have found reason and time to weep. But they move urgently and instinctively from peril to peril, shedding no tears, committed to one another.
But there are kindnesses, too—a precious few received and a few given—particularly kindness extended to young Latika. Lost and alone, she is the beneficiary of Jamal’s kindness, and she bonds with the brothers. In honoring their bond, Jamal is as committed to Latika as to his brother Samir. Indeed, Jamal envisions the three of them as “The Three Musketeers” and the strength of that commitment is tested throughout the film.
As the brothers mature and we see marked changes in their personalities, there is a growing certainty of things only hinted at in their more tender years. Their intrepidness now includes much cunning and conning, necessary tools for survival. And when the last flashback has been played and we are firmly rooted in the here and now, we are aware of something greater than mere survival and more precious than the riches that drive Jamal. It is that greater thing that we root for, even in our dread-filled uncertainty: At last, through its twists and turns, “Slumdog Millionaire” is a story of innocence lost, of redemption and of sacrifice.
Above all, it is a tale of the ultimate triumph of love.
# ##
*(As
mentioned in the opening paragraph, there has been news coverage
regarding the young actress who portrayed Latika as a young girl. One
internet report can be found at: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6140494.ece)
