One of the best movies you’ll ever see, has a cast you’ve never heard of and takes place in a country you’ll probably never visit. But all that unfamiliarity and newness serves to intrigue and completely immerse you in a story so well told you never want it to end. Simon Beaufoy has expertly adapted the screenplay from the bestselling Q and A, by Vikas Swarup. It’s so well done you feel as if you are absorbing rich culture, wisdom and knowledge, and that you’ll leave the theater a better, deeper person for having seen the film. All this from a film with the unlikely title of Slumdog Millionaire. 

This is British director Danny Boyle’s masterpiece, more along the lines of his tender and little seen Millions than his brilliant but brutal 28 Days Later… or Trainspotting. It tells the story of Jamal Malik, an uneducated busboy from the slums of India (Dev Patel) competing in the Hindi version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Show authorities feel the lad knows too much, however as he progresses far enough to win millions. They torture and interrogate him to find out just exactly how he may be cheating, but instead, through colorful and poignant flashbacks, he explains the life experiences that gave him the knowledge he uses to answer the specific questions — it’s as if his tragic life has been arranged to lead up to a happy ending … but nothing is predictable in this colorful, emotional and vivid tale.

While all the adults give stellar performances, it’s the Indian children that play Jamal, his brother and their friends at various stages of their lives that truly steal your heart. And the music, a cunning mélange of Indian modern and traditional, also plays an important role in the film. A nod to time-honored Bollywood filmmaking provides the perfect emotional release at the end. This is stellar filmmaking from start to finish.

Rated R.

—Lisa Johnson Mandell 

For an additional take, read what Sasha over at GossipSauce has to say about Slumdog Millionaire.