Hollywood Visits the Slums: Slumdog Millionaire's Game Show of Life

Slumdog Millionaire (Danny Boyle, 2008) is a dramatic tale of wish fulfilment that in many ways demonstrates for contemporary audiences a typical Hollywood paradigm. It potently combines epic themes related to desire with a taut narrative trajectory and a hyperreal style. However, some of its stylistic elements depart substantially from the classical Hollywood mode, writes Kate Harper.