Never Are We the Same Again
I don't dig in melodramas but for some reasons I like Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire. I was able to borrow a pirated DVD copy of the movie from my fellow English teacher . He said it was good. I knew his taste for movies, so I believed him. I invited my mother to sit with me throughout the movie. She likes melodramas, and several comments I have read about the movie is that indeed it is melodramatic replete with too many to be possible coincidences, that to some critics, the movie does not deserve the Oscars it amassed. Eight out of ten is more than good. I wanted to judge myself, so I watched the movie.
From the very start, I knew I would like the story-telling technique. Flashbacks just fascinate me. I am not into straight forward narratives. They are so predictable and the entire story becomes so boring. The sharp editing that sometimes confuses me makes me think more about the plot of the movie rather than just wait as everything unfolds. The cinematography is superb, though it showed a lot of what is not beautiful of India. However, because of the playful use of angles, colors and light, each scene crucial to the weaving of the drama comes out too real to me. I was able to relate with Jamal's angst, Salim's drive and Latika's innocence. Every technical aspect of the movie contributes not to the ugliness of poverty but to the mystic of India for which she is known for.
I pity Dev Patel's Jamal. His eyes, windows to the soul, clearly show the pain he has been through. I hate Anil Kapoor's show hosting not because he is not good at it but because he is just so good at making Jamal look like the slumdog that he was before. The violent Madhur Mittal's Salim is so believable it betrays his every good intention for his younger brother Jamal. Freida Pinto's Latika is so innocent I could not imagine how she could have survived Javed. All these excellent thespians together get me sucked to the awesome powerlessness of poverty which ironically makes the movie more interesting to watch. How were these different characters able to transcend material dearth with only hope, love and fate guiding them through life?
The story to some may be so melodramatic but surprisingly I was drawn to its more than human appeal. I hate melodramas but I hate more myself for being drawn to Slumdog Millionaire which clearly is melodramatic. I was so glued to every scene in the movie because each indeed is a mirror image of who we all are as people, suffering humans, celebrating joy and the triumph over life's seemingly endless assault of problems. I love so much the redeeming value of the story - how hope vanquishes the impossible, how love conquers all. I may now be a disciple of melodrama, but only because of this Simon Beaufoy's superb adaptation to screen of Vikas Swarup's rags to rajah novel.
I am very hard to please especially with movies. Though my taste ranges from the most basic (animations) to the most complex (epic adaptations), I sometimes find myself so engrossed with movies that surprises me even. From the movie reviews I read and heard, I thought I would never like Slumdog Millionaire. Because of superb story-telling, attention to cinematic details, excellent casting and adaptation, I love the movie because of all these and its redeeming value. In judging for the merits of movies I watch, I always go for how much I have changed, how much I have grown as a person. I love Slumdog Millionaire simply because as the movie ended I was never the same again.
I don't dig in melodramas but for some reasons I like Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire. I was able to borrow a pirated DVD copy of the movie from my fellow English teacher . He said it was good. I knew his taste for movies, so I believed him. I invited my mother to sit with me throughout the movie. She likes melodramas, and several comments I have read about the movie is that indeed it is melodramatic replete with too many to be possible coincidences, that to some critics, the movie does not deserve the Oscars it amassed. Eight out of ten is more than good. I wanted to judge myself, so I watched the movie.
From the very start, I knew I would like the story-telling technique. Flashbacks just fascinate me. I am not into straight forward narratives. They are so predictable and the entire story becomes so boring. The sharp editing that sometimes confuses me makes me think more about the plot of the movie rather than just wait as everything unfolds. The cinematography is superb, though it showed a lot of what is not beautiful of India. However, because of the playful use of angles, colors and light, each scene crucial to the weaving of the drama comes out too real to me. I was able to relate with Jamal's angst, Salim's drive and Latika's innocence. Every technical aspect of the movie contributes not to the ugliness of poverty but to the mystic of India for which she is known for.
I pity Dev Patel's Jamal. His eyes, windows to the soul, clearly show the pain he has been through. I hate Anil Kapoor's show hosting not because he is not good at it but because he is just so good at making Jamal look like the slumdog that he was before. The violent Madhur Mittal's Salim is so believable it betrays his every good intention for his younger brother Jamal. Freida Pinto's Latika is so innocent I could not imagine how she could have survived Javed. All these excellent thespians together get me sucked to the awesome powerlessness of poverty which ironically makes the movie more interesting to watch. How were these different characters able to transcend material dearth with only hope, love and fate guiding them through life?
The story to some may be so melodramatic but surprisingly I was drawn to its more than human appeal. I hate melodramas but I hate more myself for being drawn to Slumdog Millionaire which clearly is melodramatic. I was so glued to every scene in the movie because each indeed is a mirror image of who we all are as people, suffering humans, celebrating joy and the triumph over life's seemingly endless assault of problems. I love so much the redeeming value of the story - how hope vanquishes the impossible, how love conquers all. I may now be a disciple of melodrama, but only because of this Simon Beaufoy's superb adaptation to screen of Vikas Swarup's rags to rajah novel.
I am very hard to please especially with movies. Though my taste ranges from the most basic (animations) to the most complex (epic adaptations), I sometimes find myself so engrossed with movies that surprises me even. From the movie reviews I read and heard, I thought I would never like Slumdog Millionaire. Because of superb story-telling, attention to cinematic details, excellent casting and adaptation, I love the movie because of all these and its redeeming value. In judging for the merits of movies I watch, I always go for how much I have changed, how much I have grown as a person. I love Slumdog Millionaire simply because as the movie ended I was never the same again.
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