SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

Oscar winner SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE hits the DVD aisle on March 31st. If you didn't catch it in the theater, make sure you watch it when the DVD drops.

The movie opens with a young man, Jamal Malik in jail. He's being tortured and beaten. The police want him to confess. They want to know exactly how he knew the answers! What Answers? Well, it seems that 18-year-old Jamal was a contestant on India's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. He's one question away from the big win. But he's been arrested for cheating because he's just an orphan from the slums of Mumbai. How could he possibly know anything, much less these challenging questions? But Jamal has a story to tell. He takes us back to his childhood and to specific events that reveal how he knew the answers. For each question, Jamal has a significant moment etched in his memory which, coincidentally, is key to each answer.

It was brilliant. I must admit, however, that I've had to digest it for a while before I came to that conclusion. When I watched it, I thought it was "good". But as I've thought about it - the story, the characters, the way the story was told, the cinematography, the acting - I've concluded that this was an excellent and unique film and deserving of the awards it received. The main story in itself is compelling. But there are so many twists and turns to Jamal's past, that we find ourselves invested in his life and how it turns out. Interestingly, it was almost released straight to DVD. Because it was so different, I'm sure it seemed like a risk. But they did take the risk and it paid off. SLUMDOG walked away on Oscar night with Eight Academy Awards.