"Slumdog Millionares"

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, before Hollywood started making only superhero blockbusters and art-house Oscar winners, there were big, fun, beautiful movies that were both crowd-pleasing and artistically valuable. “Slumdog Millionaire” is one of these movies. With its exuberant love story, brilliant young cast, and the constant refrain of the “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” soundtrack, “Slumdog Millionaire” is the most fun you will have at the movies until neuroscientists genetically alter our brains so we’re capable of more enjoyment than is currently humanly possible.

“Slumdog” tells the story of a young man named Jamal (Dev Patel) from the slums of Mumbai who’s on the verge of winning India’s version of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” when he is arrested under suspicion of cheating. An uneducated orphan working at a telemarketing firm couldn’t possibly get so far on the show, right?

As Jamal is brutally interrogated by police officers, flashbacks reveal how he managed to learn the answer to each question on the show, delivering the beautiful, exhilarating story of his life. After Jamal and his brother, Salim (Madhur Mittal), watch the murder of their mother by anti-Muslim rioters, they embark on a spectacular adventure through India, encountering gangsters, con men, and tourists while Jamal tries to rescue the love of his life, Latika (Freida Pinto).

But what could have been a tragedy about poverty in India becomes instead a tale of triumph over adversity told with infectious joy by director Danny Boyle. Boyle is not exactly in the same realm of either drug-addled “Trainspotting” or zombie-loving “28 Days Later,” but his ability to create fully-realized worlds within his films is still on full display. The slums of Mumbai are a brightly colored fantasy world in which boys ride on top of trains and industry is but a cold and brutal intrusion.

Writer Simon Beaufoy turns the novel “Q and A” by Vikas Swarup into a structurally fascinating screenplay, but the film’s overarching influence seems to be Charles Dickens. Dickens’s London has given way to Mumbai, an overpopulated city torn between poverty and globalization. Jamal and Salim are a regular Oliver and Artful Dodger. They narrowly avoid danger at every turn and face down caricatured villains like Maman (Ankur Vikal), a creepy Michael Jackson look-alike who profits from the money his orphans bring in from the streets.

The difference between the orphans in “Oliver Twist” and those in “Slumdog” is that Boyle allows his to grow up. Different actors play Jamal, Salim, and Latika at different ages; the youngest ones are universally adorable, particularly young Jamal (Tanay Chedda), who is cute even after crawling through a swamp of human feces. They’re never overly precocious or annoying—qualities that too many young American actors possess.

When our heroes reach their late teens, Patel, Pinto, and Mittal take over. The three are barely known in India and even less so in America, but each delivers a raw, engaging performance—particularly Patel, whose soft, downtrodden work sharply contrasts with the exuberance of his younger counterpart. His understated delivery works wonders—it’s a natural statement on disappointment and longing.

Pinto has already been labeled by Entertainment Weekly as a new breakout star, and with good reason. She’s extraordinarily beautiful, but Pinto does more than just stand around and look pretty (although she does spend a good deal of time doing just that). Her character is trapped as a young wife married to a fat old gangster, and Pinto’s performance as a girl trying to escape a sterile, abusive life is riveting.

After meeting at the age of six, Latika and Jamal lose their parents, flee maniacal villains, and are separated by gangsters, industry, and even Jamal’s brother. They are a couple destined to be together and their love realizes the theme of destiny underlying “Slumdog Millionaire.” A title card that appears at the beginning and end of the movie asks in “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” multiple choice-style how Jamal could win 20 million rupees. The answer? “D: it is written.”

It is also written that Jamal and Latika will live happily ever after, the forces of the universe conspiring so that Jamal knows the answer to every question on the game show. Theirs is a big-screen love that’s too often missing from mainstream American cinema, the kind of love that conquers all adversity and ends in giant dance numbers over the end credits. And what could be more fun than that?