The story of Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is about to experience the biggest day of his life. With the whole nation watching, he is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India's "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" But when the show breaks for the night, police arrest him on suspicion of cheating; how could a street kid know so much? Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slum where he and his brother grew up, of their adventures together on the road, of vicious encounters with local gangs, and of Latika, the girl he loved and lost. Each chapter of his story reveals the key to the answer to one of the game show's questions. Intrigued by Jamal's story, the jaded Police Inspector begins to wonder what a young man with no apparent desire for riches is really doing on this game show? When the new day dawns and Jamal returns to answer the final question, the Inspector and sixty million viewers are about to find out...

Many uplifting and heart warming movies have become so clichéd that it is hard to be a fan of them that much now days. You know how the movie is going to start and end even before you see them all that you don't know is the little pieces in between that will fill the movie until they come to a tiresome ending. That is why Slumdog Millionaire is so good because it refuses to follow the formula of so many of its predecessors instead going out on its own and telling a truly entertaining and wonderful story. Even though everything works out in the end and you get that heart warming ending so much tragedy befalls before that moment that it is a bitter sweet ending for the films characters. But as audience its the kind of movie that can make you stand up in the theatre and cheer, make you root for the good guys and boo the bad guys. Make you feel pity and happiness and sorrow and joy all in the span of two hours.

The idea of the film is also very interesting, that all the elements in our life can lead up to us knowing all the answers to a game show. Jamal is the hero of this tale and all his tragedies and all his hardships are almost like destiny so he will know the answers to the questions so he can win a million dollars and find all the happiness in the world. Everything he has lived through and suffered through, the tapestry of his life is what made up his destiny to win and to win big. That is a fun, entertaining and fantastic story and the kind of story that is so much fun to watch.

I have to question if they were trying to get across a political message as the movie does make you feel for India and its plight as it was almost a third world country until a decade ago when they took over most of our telemarketing and technical jobs. Now a country that is booming and finding economic prosperity but still can't forget the slums and all the hardships that it took them to get to where they are today. The movie makes you want to feel that pity, that sorrow all the while cheering for the hero to escape it all and find his happily ever after. That is what makes the movie so bitter sweet and is done in a very subtle and almost political manner.

Most of the actors are from India and are Indians so sometimes it was hard to gauge their performances as the movie is told in a mixture of English and Indian. Add to the fact that a good portion of the film is told by child actors and it can be a little hard to judge. But where the movie really takes off is when they switch from the child actors to their adult counterparts. I didn't like the character of Salim that much as a child but the adult performance given by Madhur Mittal is one of the best you will ever see and kind of heartbreaking. The adult Jamal played by Dev Patel might have been to melancholy but he was still fun to watch. Easily one of the best pictures of the year.

Grade: A