Slumblog Millionaire

After the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, they showed Slumdog Millionare. For those of you who live under a rock, it won Best Picture this year.

I watched it and loved it. I thought it was much better than No Country for Old Men (last year's best picture). In fact, I thought it was better than a lot of the movies that have been recently nominated for Best Picture in the last few years. Finally, a beautiful, simple, love story wins the Academy Award, not something that breaks the mold. I'm not saying breaking the mold is bad, I enjoyed No Country and other films that don't stick to a typical formula, but it's nice to see the classical Hollywood structure win an Academy Award.

This is only in terms of the structure of the script. The film was beautifully shot and acted and everything that Best Picture deserves. And I loved the film. Not only because it engaged me and all that stuff, but as a screenwriter I found that the script was really good, and incredibly well structured, and that's kind of what I want to talk about in this blog.

STOP READING NOW IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT.

I would not describe this movie as “a story about a child from the slums of India who wins a million dollars on the millionaire show in India and why he knew the answer to each question” This is how it was originally described to me, and my original reaction was “whoopty do” I already read that story. It's called “The View From Saturday”and won a Newberry Award.

I would describe this film as “a story about a child from the slums of India who chases the girl of his destiny, framed by his appearance on the millionaire show”

Jamal only went on the millionaire show to get Latika's attention, to find her. He didn't go on the show to win the money. It was purely destiny, i.e. “It is written”that he knew the answer to each question. The way it was originally described to me made it seem like the kid goes on the show to win the money, he's smart, yay, and that's the end. The way it really is is that he never cared about the money, he was just in love.

I am willing to bet that all the major turning points in the film (and my turning points I mean when we got from Act I into Act II and from Act II into Act III) have to do with Jamal's pursuit of Latika, rather than any tension in the millionaire show. If you take out all of the millionaire show footage, you would see a love story, where boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back, while overcoming immense hardship in his own life.

What I'm really trying to say is that the structure of this film was impeccable, and I learned a lot from it. I was thoroughly impressed with the film and am very, very glad that it won Best Picture. It reminded me why I love to write, and has furthered my inspiration to pursue it as a career.