Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdgo Millionaire was a film to show the true India.  It shows the journey of a young boy as he grows into adulthood, and all of the experiences he has to endure along the way.  The film is not linear, it goes between the question he had to answer for "Who Wants to be a Millionaire," and the experiences that coincided with giving him the correct answer.  For example, the question about who was on the $100 bill, he got a $100 bill from the tourists and gave it to the blind boy who asked him to describe which president was on it, and answered Benjamin Franklin.

This film was set in India and also filmed there.  Slumdog Millionaire was filmed in four different locations in India three were actual locations and in one studio there.  When doing so is permissable within the limits of a films theme and purpose, filmakers choose a setting with a high degree of visual impact.  (The Art of Watching Films pg 103) This really showed how life in Mumbai and other locations was, gave the true effect of him being a "slumdog."  There were many different camera angles used throughout the movie, for example a high camera angle in the train station when he is watching for Latika.  The film also used many different lighting effects, the lights for the game show stage, the hot sun during the day, and darkness with subtle moonlight at night.  Some special effects also had to be used to for the people that were set on fire in the beginning as well.

Slumdog Millionaire shows true life about poverty and the stuggles it comes with, but also shows the fairytale most people dream of in Jamal winning "Who Wants to be a Millionaire."  The director/screen writers tried to put a love story into the mix of things, but there wasn't much substance there.  Overall, I found the movie to be just ok, nothing spectacular.