Slumdog Millionaire

Data
Title: Slumdog Millionaire
Year: 2008
Length: 120 minutes
Directors: Danny Boyle & Loveleen Tandan
Writer: Simon Beaufoy, based on a novel by Vikas Swarup
Starring: Dev Patel, Ayush Mahesh Khedekar, Tanay Chheda, Freida Pinto, Rubina Ali, Tanvi Ganesh Lonkar, Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, Ashutosh Lobo Gajiwala, Madhur Mittal
Music: A.R. Rahman
Distinctions: Oscars for Best Picture, Best Directing (Boyle), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Score, Best Song ("Jai Ho"), Best Editing and Best Sound; Oscar nominations for Best Song ("Oh Saya") and Best Sound Editing; currently #86 on the IMDb's Top 250

My reaction
Synopsis: an Indian boy from the slums is accused of cheating on a quiz show
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Concept: Good.
Story: Indifferent. I don't say it's good largely because I'm annoyed by the film's contradictory morality. The movie spends a lot of time getting us good and appalled over the way the poor are treated in India, the idea that people who have nothing are worthless, but in the end it ends up reinforcing that same philosophy by having fate bend over backwards to give a nice guy fabulous wealth. Basically, the lesson to be learned isn't that the lower classes are people; it's that the protagonist won his money because he's better than the lower classes.
Characters: Indifferent.
Dialog: Great.
Pacing: Good.
Cinematography: Bad. I've never had a problem with hand-held cameras before, but this one gave me a headache - probably because it's the kind of movie where you're thinking about the story and not the camera.
Special effects/design: Great.
Acting: Good.
Music: Good.
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay). Immediately after watching it I was thinking I'd give it either a 7 or 8 out of 10. But the more I think about it, the less I like it.
Objective Rating: 2.7/4 (Good).