Director: Danny Boyle
Note: Spoilers below
Ruminations on the nature of chance and Fate in film often come off as hollow, and Slumdog Millionaire is no exception to that rule. Film is a fantastical creation; we go to films in order to believe the story that's being put up there. Incredible coincidences are a part of many films - we want to believe that our lives are so ordained, that Fate will reach down a helping hand and show us the way (preferably with triumphant music behind us) to true happiness.
Slumdog Millionaire's most interesting conceit is that its protagonist knows the answers to the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? questions because of the amount of suffering he's undergone in his life - that his painful experiences are actually helping him through his Cliff Claven Millionaire round, despite the fact that he is remarkably ignorant.
It's tempting to hate Oscar-winning films, but this is a well-made film. It flatters us in a hateful way, and is clearly derivative of City of God, but stories like this are why we go to movies in the first place. We don't go to see stories about millions of poor people who suffer in silence; we go to see someone beating the odds.
As an aside, it was somewhat difficult to take seriously the love interest in this film after Tasha Robinson at the A.V. Club took apart films where the protagonists pine for childhood love well into adulthood, correctly noting that that behavior is not romantic, it is creepy.
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