Who wants to be a Slumdog Millionaire?!

Last night I drove across town to a theater I've only been to one other time. The film I saw then was Let the Right One In. This time, as I'm sure you can tell by the title, it was Slumdog Millionaire. Each movie sits firmly on different ends of the spectrum of the fairy tale genre. Let the Right One In is a Gothic fairy tale. It's dark colors and themes exude a feeling of fear and darkness. In order to enjoy it, you must believe that there might be hope in the darkness. Slumdog Millionaire wants you to believe in love. In light and hope and dreams. They are both amazing movies but Slumdog makes people do something that not many films do today..hope.
Slumdog Millionaire makes me happy just to think about it. It is about Jamal, a boy from the slums in Mumbai, India. He is on Who Wants to be a Millionaire. He is about to win the most anyone has ever won on it. In between episodes he is accused of cheating and interrogated (read: tortured) into explaining how he cheated. He didn't, he's just lived a life full of experiences that led him to the answers. The film is the story of how he got the answers. And it is wonderful.
Danny Boyle, the man behind Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, and Millions has once again taken a genre and made it uniquely his own. Slumdog oozes with feelings. It will make you scared, it will make you laugh, you may cheer, you will flinch, and you may even cry. Slumdog Millionaire roughs you up and reconfirms love. All in two hours.
The characters are perfectly flawed. Jamal is an unstopping train of love. He loves his brother. He loves Latika, the fellow orphan he meets the day he and his brother are orphaned. He tries his whole life to love both of them. Whether or not he succeeds is all part of the film. Jamal's brother is a man about chances. Every chance to improve his situation is taken, no matter the cost. Does he find redemption? Can he let his greed take a passenger seat to his brother? Go see the movie. And Latika. Little Latika who grows into beautiful Latika. Jamal and she become estranged but they never forget each other. Her story is perfect. The arc from innocent to adult is a complete by the end of the film.
Slumdog Millionaire is currently at the top of my must-recommend list. You must see it, your neighbor must see it, your family must see it. It is pure cinema. It expresses itself visually and with style. I love this film.
You will too.