Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire is a great movie that takes place on the streets on Mumbai and involves a young orphan who ends up on a game show that mirrors Who Wants to be a Millionaire.  When the show breaks for the evening they arrest Jamal on suspicion of cheating.  To explain where he learned all of these answers he tells the story of his childhood and as he does he explains the answers to each of the questions on the show.  This goes on to show that luck had more to do with the correct answers than actual intellect.  The setting as determiner of character is very apparent in this movie.  The director also did a great job of choosing location shooting rather than doing the filming in a studio. He also did a great job of using unique camera angles and lighting to help draw in the viewer’s eyes.

As the book states belief that our character, destiny, and fate are all determined by forces outside ourselves, that we may be nothing more than products of our heredity and environment, and that freedom of choice is only an illusion.  I feel that this is shown in this movie very well by showing that Jamal only knew the answers to the questions as a product of the environment that he grew up in.  The fact that he was about to become a millionaire by answering questions that only someone with a very high education would only know, not an orphan with barely any education at all.  When in all actuality he knew these answer only because of the events and environment in which he grew up in.

Even though the book emphasizes on shooting a film in a studio rather than on location to be able to control the lighting structures and post a more dramatic effect.   I think the director of this film did a good job of using both shooting on location and in the studio to pull in dramatic effects to this movie.  Shooting the film on location on the streets of Mumbai gives the viewer a great chance to truly see what poverty is like in the slums of Mumbai.  It pulls some truth into this fictional story and indirectly focuses on an issue such as poverty in third world countries.

To expand more on that point the vast camera angles that the director did use along with different film grain and lighting effects tie this entire movie together.  It pulls in smooth transitions to the show (which is filmed with poor lighting and great texture) to jumping into the streets of Mumbai and showing the adventures of Jamal and his brother.  This movie is not for everyone, but is appreciated by the true film critic.