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From Academy Award® nominated director Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), and based on the acclaimed semi-autobiographical novel, Miral is the story of a Palestinian girl coming of age amidst the war zone of the Israeli-Arab conflict -- unflinchingly told through the perspective of Miral (Freida Pinto, Slumdog Millionaire) herself. Following the death of her troubled mother, Miral's father (Alexander Siddig) is forced to entrust her to the orphanage of Hind Husseini (Hiam Abbass), a woman whose commitment to peace through education has a profound impact on the maturing young woman as her epic journey to self-esteem and social consciousness proves both harrowing and hopeful. Also starring Willem Dafoe and Vanessa Redgrave.Working again with inventive cinematog! rapher Eric Gautier (
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), Julian Schnabel offers a distinctly Palestinian perspective on the birth of Israel. Arranging the narrative by characters, he starts in Jerusalem with Hind Husseini (
The Visitor's Hiam Abbass), who opens a center in 1948 for Arab orphans, before flashing forward 19 years to introduce Nadia (Yasmine Al Massri), an abused alcoholic who does time for assault. Through a cellmate, Nadia meets Jamal (
Cairo Time's Alexander Siddig), a devout Muslim who becomes her husband. The story then advances 20 years to catch up with 17-year-old Miral (
Slumdog Millionaire's Freida Pinto). An extended (and confusing) flashback reveals Miral's connection to the two women, whose experiences shape her feelings about the intifada. Then, when Miral falls for Palestine Liberation Organization leader Hani (
Munich's Omar Metwally), she becomes convinced she can benefit her people more through revolution than ed! ucation, the path Hind encourages her to pursue, but then Hani! disappe ars, the authorities bring her in for questioning, and she ends up in Ramallah, where Lisa (Schnabel's daughter, Stella), a Jewish family friend, further influences her thinking. By 1993, Miral (which means "red flower") figures out how she can best serve her heritage. With its excess of plot, journalist Rula Jebreal's adaptation of her semiautobiographical novel gets off to a slow start, but builds to a moving finish. If Pinto seems over her head, and if the Tom Waits material feels misplaced, Abbass and Siddig ground the film with performances of warmth and compassion.
--Kathleen C. FennessyJamal Malik (Dev Patel) is just one question away from winning a fortune on India's version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" But how has this uneducated young man from the slums succeeded in providing correct responses to questions that have stumped countless scholars before him? And will he ultimately win it all or lose everything, including his true love? Danny Boyle (
Su! nshine) directed this wildly energetic, Dickensian drama about the desultory life and times of an Indian boy whose bleak, formative experiences lead to an appearance on his country's version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" Jamal (played as a young man by Dev Patel) and his brother are orphaned as children, raising themselves in various slums and crime-ridden neighorhoods and falling in, for a while, with a monstrous gang exploiting children as beggars and prostitutes. Driven by his love for Latika (Freida Pinto), Jamal, while a teen, later goes on a journey to rescue her from the gang's clutches, only to lose her again to another oppressive fate as the lover of a notorious gangster.
Running parallel with this dark yet irresistible adventure, told in flashback vignettes, is the almost inexplicable sight of Jamal winning every challenge on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?," a strong showing that leads to a vicious police interrogation. As Jamal explains how he know! s the answer to every question on the show as the result of ha! rsh even ts in his knockabout life, the chaos of his existence gains shape, perspective and soulfulness. The film's violence is offset by a mesmerizing exotica shot and edited with a great whoosh of vitality. Boyle successfully sells the story's most unlikely elements with nods to literary and cinematic conventions that touch an audience's heart more than its head. --Tom Keogh
Stills from Slumdog Millionaire (Click for larger image)
 
 
