Slumdog Millionaire was 2008’s runaway hit for a reason. First of all, it’s uplifting. Second, it’s awesome. Danny Boyle directed this fast-paced history lesson of Mumbai through the eyes of Jamal (Dev Patel), a contestant on the Indian version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” He seems to know all the answers, but he’s just a kid from the slums. He must be cheating. The story is told in flashbacks as the police interrogate Jamal, and in the flashbacks we see how he learned the answers to each of the question. Contrived? You bet. But the story is not about the game show or the money. It’s about the rapid transformation of a city and how a handful of children who grew up with no family and no money survived. It is also, of course, like so many movies, a love story. Winner of 8 Academy Awards, Slumdog Millionaire deserved each and every one of them.
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