Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Slumdog Millionaire owned last week's Oscars, taking home eight out of a possible 10 statues, including the two big ones: Best Picture and Best Director. The $64,000 – or 1,250,000 rupee – question: is Slumdog Millionaire deserving of such recognition?

My final answer is a resounding yes.

British director Danny Boyle's acclaimed adaptation of Vikas Swarup's novel Q&A recounts the story of Jamal Malik (played at various points in time by Ayush Mahesh Khedekar, Tanay Chheda and Dev Patel), a boy from the Mumbai slums who triumphs on India's version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. However, when Jamal is arrested, interrogated and tortured on suspicion of cheating, he reveals his life story, which suggests that destiny may have had a hand in his big win.

Slumdog Millionaire's peculiar conceit – film based around a game show that was surely at its most popular nearly a decade ago (Q&A featured a fictional game show) – sounds kitschy at best and downright cheesy at worst; in short, not Oscar material. But the quiz show premise makes the movie's flashback sequences surprisingly fluid, allowing the film to wonderfully explore one man's rise from India's slums and his unrelenting pursuit to be with the woman he loves.

The first thing that struck me after leaving the cinema was Slumdog Millionaire's tremendous vibrancy. The writing, direction, acting, cinematography, editing and music are all pulsing with an energy I haven't seen in a film in years; the film looks and feels completely unique. Compared to the rest of this year's Oscar contenders, including the terrific The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, it's easy to see why Slumdog Millionaire sticks out.

Its cast of unknowns adds to Slumdog Millionaire's charms. While the cast noticeably failed to be acknowledged at the Academy Awards, all capably handle all that their roles require of them. That many of the younger actors – all of whom are superb – actually come from Mumbai's slums (Slumdog Millionaire was entirely shot in India) is another feather in the film's cap. In particular, Bollywood star Anil Kapoor is a standout as the slimy host of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.

I've seen posters around Sydney proclaiming Slumdog Millionaire to be "the feel-good film of the decade", which, given its predominant themes of empowerment and redemption, might be a fair assumption. Yet Boyle is unafraid to pull emotional punches when the script demands it. The movie's early scenes, set in Mumbai's slums, are simultaneously colourful and upsetting. Slumdog Millionaire's most harrowing sequence – a genuinely sickening moment in which a gangster blinds a small child in order to increase his begging potential – is deftly handled as the culmination of a segment of the film in which the audience, like the children the scene concerns, are oblivious to the gangster's true intents. By contrast, Boyle gives just the right amount – and type – of levity to elsewhere balance the film's tone.

In fact, watching Slumdog Millionaire, I found myself reminded of precisely why I love going to the cinema. If only all films offered this much. The film's outcome is rarely in doubt, but Simon Beaufoy's script is so engrossing that it's perfectly acceptable to question the outcomes of the lesser aspects of the story (particularly during its vignette-esque flashbacks). Slumdog Millionaire offers a quality of romance, suspense and thrills rare in modern cinema.

It's not quite perfect. Slumdog Millionaire might be a touch too sentimental, particularly during its final act, in which the entire nation becomes enthralled by Jamal's potential win; the story has enough momentum without resorting to such clichés as people huddling around televisions in shop windows. Additionally, the Bollywood-style dance number that's intercut with the film's closing credits is at odds with the rest of the picture's Hollywood sensibilities. I also didn't quite buy a key moment in Jamal's relationship with his brother, which may have warranted further exploration.

Any flaws are easily overlooked: Slumdog Millionaire is a real winner.