Baron VC

The film opens in an Indian interrogation room. Jamal who’s on the verge of becoming an instant millionaire is being tortured by the police on the suspicion of cheating the popular TV show, “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”. “How can a slumdog like you know the answers?” asks the inspector to which he spits out blood and simply says, “I knew all the answers.”

It’s a riveting movie that takes you through the life of Jamal, his older brother and an orphan girl who becomes the object of Jamal’s lifelong quest and love. Every question has a dramatic back story connected to Jamal’s life of hardships coming up in the slums, losing his parents to muslim-hindi riots, growing up on wits alone. Life on the streets eventually consume his older brother as an up-and-coming gangster while the orphan girl becomes a kept woman to a prominent gang leader.

Jamal instead becomes a tea boy servicing an offshore call center.

The beauty of this film is the heart-wrenching story of life in the slums of Mumbai. It’s a world of child prostitutes and street children blinded by gangsters to be pimped out as singing beggars. Jamal rises above it all, untouched and pure, still in love with the girl of his childhood. It was a thoroughly amazing movie without a minute of boredom and a happy but bittersweet ending.

Slumdog Millionaire

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button tells the story of a man born old and aging backwards, living a peculiar life of hardship that gradually blossoms into success and youth but also loss of his loves. One thing that stands out is the amazing computer graphics for their under-stated effects on the story (mainly allowing the actors to age backwards in a realistic way).

The story is loosely based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald so it’s more or less just the plot idea that makes it into this adaptation. The acting performances by both Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett were excellent and low key. I found it a bit odd that the mind of a man born old would age chronologically and I think that took a lot away from the story (and this is a large departure from the short story as well), however the film makes you think about the reality of aging and its unavoidable place in humanity. I think the film could have benefitted for more torment and inner conflict on the difficulties of growing old backwards.

Although it’s a wonderful film I don’t really think it quite deserves the slew of Oscar nominations it’s garnered. I can only question the quality of films in recent years.