Slumdog Millionaire is a riotous, colorful fairy tale of epic proportions, filmed with the greatest of tenderness in the dirtiest districts of Mumbai. The film opens to the big bass and bumpin’ beat of M.I.A. following the escape of neighborhood kids from the police. Sure, the cops are grown men on motorcycles, but the kids clearly have the upper-hand of it—running through the ins and outs of the neighborhood, they lure the cops into their own territory. Slumdog Millionaire is filmed with such casual intimacy that you can smell the garbage, taste the spices, touch the purple and gold silk drying between rooftops. It’s a tale worthy of the epic poets, about a boy growing up and his fated love for the girl of his dreams.