While appearing on the Hindu TV version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” Jamal (Dev Patal) is interrogated by the police for knowing all the answers… Told in a series of vivid and painful flashbacks the audience is transported through Jamal’s childhood with his brother, Salim (Madhur Mittal) and his girlfriend, Latika (Freida Pinto) all the way through to their adult life. All at once insane, intense and irrational, the movie delivers a story like nothing else you’ll see this year – possibly like nothing else you’ve seen your entire life! As an audience we’re completely seduced into his exhilarating world of near-misses and narrow escapes, as Jamal and Salim lunge into each tale with a hunger to survive (and where the rest of us might have failed.) Directed by Danny Trainspotting Boyle and written by Simon The Full Monty Beaufoy, not since City of God or Namesake has a foreign film had such impact. At times reminiscent of Scarface, the tale parallels the extreme wealth and poverty of India with imaginative detail and precision. You’ll be glued to your seat, drawing blood from the arm of the person next to you. With its unexpected ups, downs, twist and turns, in the end this roller coaster gem will leave you teary-eyed and breathless, but surprisingly never exhausted. Instead you’ll be begging, “I want to go again.” Be sure to stick around for the dance number at the train station as the credits roll. Four tiaras and the entire crown.
