Slumdog Millionaire

Boy, do I feel for this film. Talk about setting high expectations: "feel-good film of the decade"?? Really??

I recall hearing, ooh, ages ago Simon Mayo reviewing a novel on his 5 Live radio show, about a boy in India arrested just as he was about to win some quiz or another. I clearly wasn't paying that much attention, as despite the rave reviews of the book, I didn't catch the title. Eventually I found the book - called Q&A - but was then thrown into confusion by hearing about this movie, with its similar - heck, identical - story. Turns out they are indeed one and the same, so let's first up give kudos to whoever it was who decided on the title change - Slumdog Millionaire is a way better title.

And what a start to the movie: the drama of the quiz show, and the interrogation, and then the flashbacks to the young lad's life. Wham! Wham! Wham! Director Danny Boyle does this all so well, in Trainspotting fashion, that I half-expected to see Begbie in the background having a pint and a curry). And from there, he doesn't do much wrong. I confess I thought the pace lagged a bit once we got to the flashbacks which were more recent, but all in all, this is very close to a five-star film for me.

Now, the "feelgood" thing. Hmm. Critics have rightly pointed out that there's quite a lot of uncomfortable material in the film, which seems at odds to a feelgood tag - but that's the same accusation you could make against everyone's Christmas favourite, It's A Wonderful Life, when you think about it. Though this film is probably not one you should think about too much.

So, job well done. Not perfect - and I can't quite think why, but there you go. Maybe it's written.

Oh, and please stay for the end credits. It's worth it. Heck, it's always worth it if you ask me, but you're missing a bit of extra feelgood if you get up and go early.

Wait a minute - what about the mathematics?
You'd think, wouldn't you, that in all these questions there would be room for a maths one. Sadly not. But it's interesting to do some exchange rate work: our lad actually becomes a technical "millionaire" early on when he gets to 1000000 rupees... how much is that worth in pounds then? And the grand prize of 20 million rupees - more or less than a million pounds?

Final answer?