Slumdog Millionaire

Jamal Malik is one question away from winning 20 million rupees. How did he do it?

A: He cheated
B: He’s lucky
C: He’s a genius
D: It is written

List the best movies you’ve seen in 2008… Slumdog Millionaire would make it into the top two or three I’ve seen all year long! It’s that good. Really.

It’s a movie about unswerving love, resilient hope, beauty in the midst of ruins and amazingly, divine providence.

The movie follows the lives of orphans Jamal Malik, his older brother, Salim and an orphan girl named Latika, who are raised in the impoverished slums of Mumbai. The surroundings are brutally harsh, and yet Director Danny Boyle somehow captures beauty, dignity, energy and grace in almost every frame. As the movie reveals epic human tragedy and misery, it also captures incredible vitality.

When the movie opens, Jamal is one question away from winning the jackpot on an Indian takeoff of the television show, “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.” But, he has been arrested because authorities believe that an ordinary kid from the slums couldn’t possibly know the answers to all of these questions without cheating. The story follows Jamal’s interrogation.

The Police Inspector asks how a kid from the slums could possibly win all this money without cheating. “I knew the answers,” Jamal wearily responds. And with that the movie begins to bounce back in time to cleverly show us how amazingly, and yes, providentially, the answer to every question Jamal was asked had been learned through various events that have occurred throughout his life.

Richard Corliss of Time Magazine has called the movie, “…a buoyant hymn to life.” I agree.

Before rushing out the door to see the movie, please be advised, the movie is rated R, and does contain violence and brief strong language. The movie doesn’t avoid sadness, sin and tragedy, but it is centered with humanity, humor, love, dignity and grace.

Jamal and Salim become very different people. Jamal does what he needs to survive, yet somehow holds on to his soul. Somehow believes in the power of love to conquer all. Salim sells his soul and become something else…

Christianity Today described it like this: “Time and again, Jamal combines an inherent determination to succeed with a fierce devotion to the transforming, surmounting power of love. Even at the darkest of times, Jamal's inspirational faith in love is both an ideal and a specific tether to Latika. Everything to which Jamal sets his heart and life is for that purpose alone.”

I was deeply touched by this film and highly recommend it (with the previous observations). Slumdog Millionaire is without a doubt one of the best movies of 2008.

It is written.