Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire

Director: Danny Boyle

Starring: Dev Patel, Freida Pinto

MPAA: Rated R for some violence, disturbing images and language (This movie should have been rated PG-13, anyone who is hesitant about watching R rated movies scroll to the bottom of this post where this is explained because you don’t want to miss
Slumdog Millionaire because of a poor rating. If I had just said it was rated PG-13 you would have watched it and never known the difference.)

WOW, brilliant, beautiful, gripping, heart wrenching, amazing, all these words just scrape the surface of the masterpiece Slumdog Millionaire. I love movies that portray so much hope and love, and at the same time are so tense one feels like biting his nails the whole film. There is no question at all why Slumdog Millionaire won Best Motion Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted screenplay (and 5 more) at the 2009 Academy Awards. I wish I had taken the time to see this film in theaters.



The true question is, “Why this film was rated R”. The movie was lass offensive than 90% of the movies out there and because it has branded with an R rating many people will not take the time to see it and be enriched by its beauty. My mother for instance would love this film because it is a gripping humanistic movie that tells a story about love and overcoming obstacles in a very tasteful way. Any violent of scary or even sexual situation is done in a way that captures realism, but does not go over the top the way many films do. Instead the scene cuts away or the camera movies in another direction so that a dead body is not seen or something like that. Thus the message is sent but the audience is not exposed to a gut wrenching or disgusting scene.



Slumdog Millionaire is set in modern day Mumbai on the west coast of India. A young man from the slums is a contestant on India’s Who Wants To Be a Millionaire. As each question is asked the man is sent back through childhood memories that relate to each question. Two brothers, Jamal and Salim, are orphans trying to stay alive in the most tragic surroundings I have ever seen portrayed on film. The streets are made from garbage, the houses built from trash, the water is filthy and brown, and these two beautiful children run through the streets and play in the water with the biggest smiles, they are so happy in their pitiful state. As they get older the two boys choose different directions in life and the drama played out between them is enthralling.

The movie does jumps around quite a bit from past to present, and it takes some getting used to. I also had a hard time distinguishing different characters from the other especially when they were young boys. But as the film progressed I got used to the nationalities and then I had no problems. I found it very interesting to hear Hindi spoken throughout the whole move and have it incorporated with English. The movie uses a lot of subtitles but the main characters all speak a lot of English too, so there is an almost seamless blend throughout the film where one language starts and the other ends. The new culture was fun for me to watch and learn from. I have watched very few Hindi movies and so there was a little bit of a culture shock to Slumdog Millionaire, but the story was so captivating I jumped right in and loved every minute of the film.



You can’t go wrong with picking Slumdog Millionaire. It will change your life, the way only 2 hours of cinematic pleasure can. This movie is perfect, 10 out of 10. I can’t think of anything that made this move less than a wonderful film of hope and love. There are heart pounding moments, nail biting scenes, comedy and drama, Slumdog Millionaire is a masterpiece and a tragic loss for those who do not see it.

Sex/Nudity – 5 out of 10 – A girl is seen dancing in a belly dancer style costume, her abdomen is showing. In another scene girls dressed in “clubbing garb” somewhat immodest dance seductively with men. Two boys walk into a whore house there are some couples shown from above, a little bit of kissing is seen. A teenage boy forces another boy out of a hotel room so he can be alone with a girl, it is implied they have sex. A teenage girl gets out of a shower we see the tops of her bare shoulders, a teen age boy, with his eyes closed and head turned, hands her a towel.

Violence/ Gore - 6 out of 10– There is a small gun fight with a little bit of blood. A large riot between Muslims and Hindus breaks out in a slum. There is a lot of fire, people being hit with poles and sticks. We see a man lit on fire running. A young man is interrogated by the police, his head is dunked repeatedly into a bucket of water, he is hit a few times, and electrocuted, he spits out bloody saliva once. A little boy is knocked unconscious and them blinded by 3 men so he can beg on the streets at a higher rate. 2 young men scuffle and hit each other a few times. The disturbing images include a boy imagining he and another boy are thrown from the top of a building, a boy escapes from being locked in a outhouse by jumping down the hole, and we see a dead woman floating face down in a pool of water.

Profanity – 5 out of 10 - 1 or 2 “F” words in the background or subtitled in Hindi, 10 or so other mild obscenities, a few religious expletives.
See it is a PG-13 film with and R rating!