Brilliant. I can totally see why this won all the awards: a thoroughly entertaining and genuinely moving film which managed to combine an excellent storyline with harsh realities and bring some real perspective into your life. Essentially, it’s a clever story that interweaves the “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” theme in with the real life of a Mumbai slums resident.
As usual, I managed to avoid reading the synopses provided in the gazillion other reviews of this film on the web, so it came as a bit of a surprise to learn it wasn’t about cheating at all, which I’d assumed. I’m not going to add spoilers to this review, even though I was probably about the last person in England to see it!
It was genuinely shocking at times when you think that the sort of life that is portrayed is reality for millions or people. Anyone that’s seen it will agree I’m sure. A good point to say that if you saw it and want to make a difference to someone’s life, then go to GiveIndia and donate something.
There’s been lots of comments about how this film portrays India in a bad light, even from Read the rest of this entry »
First up you should know that this type of life-observation film isn’t normally my cup of tea. Nor is Woody Allen who directed it exactly high on my must-see list. Give me a Casino Royale, Gladiator or Lord Of The Rings epic and I’m in my element, but since my g/f is into chick-flicks and Woody Allen, this was her call. And I was very pleasantly surprised. OK, so I like epics, but I do tend to go into most films with an open mind and as little info as possible so as to enjoy the surprise.
I’m fairly easy to please – although not so easy that “You, Me & Dupree” kept me in the cinema past the half-way point. Truly awful. VCB is a slow-moving film as is typical of the genre, but the characters are interesting enough to keep your attention and I found myself becoming more interested as the film went on.