Slumdog Mania

Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail as Salim Photo: Associated Press/Guardian

So Slumdog seems to be hotly tipped to win the Oscar and while it is quite an involving film (was going to say entertaining but would that be right?) and Boyle directs with his usual breezy authority and how-did-he-do-that visual wizardry. And the gameshow as trigger to episodes in Jamal’s life was quite a clever concept if not original to the film.

There was still much that made me like David Cox at The Guardian hesitate to call it the best film of the year. And were news of the world actually watching the film ‘feelgood film of the year’!? I mean it had a happy ending but acid being poured onto a child’s eyes does not produce a pleasurable all is alright with the world sensation. (Or are you meant to feel good that it’s not you, therein lies the moral haziness, but more on that later).