4 stars

"Slumdog Millionaire" bursts with life, delighting, shocking and constantly engaging through lively visuals and the rags-to- maybe-riches adventures of a young man who travels from the slums to the hot seat of the Indian "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire."

Director Danny Boyle ("Trainspotting") presents a world where garbage dumps serve as playgrounds, and criminality and cruelty are a matter of course. But it's also a place where ingenuity can pay off and where hope, once sprung, can survive.

The shanty town inhabited by eventual "Millionaire" contestant Jamal Malik and his bother, Salim, might be one of the worst places in the world to grow up. But it's home to them, and Boyle and cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle lend it the same vibrancy they later will the Taj Mahal. Both places offer opportunities for mischief and moneymaking for Jamal and Salim, orphaned as children by an anti-Muslim attack that killed their mother.

Adapted for the screen by Simon Beaufoy from the novel "Q&A" by Vikas Swarup, "Slumdog" makes a case for nature over a lack of nurture in contrasting the behavior of siblings faced with the same circumstances. Jamal will lie, cheat and steal to survive, but remains in essence a good person. Salim, on the other hand, probably would have tapped his inner "Scarface" had he grown up in Boca Raton.

Much of "Slumdog" unfolds in flashback, with six actors total playing Jamal and Salim at various ages. Dev Patel is the standout as the older Jamal, an assistant – he mostly serves tea – at a Mumbai cell-phone call center. But Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail and Ayush Mahesh Khedekar also shine as the very young Salim and Jamal, respectively.

Khedekar captures Jamal's indefatigable quality, and Ismail – discovered in a real slum by Boyle and crew – nails Salim's developing, difficult character, especially during a close-up of Salim's reaction to his kindhearted brother's invitation, over his protests, to a fellow orphan named Latika to join them in their shelter from the rain. In that close-up, we see Salim's sense of betrayal, along with a growing recognition that his brother is and will always be a sucker.

Latika is Jamal's great love, from whom he will be separated by a series of hard-hearted, sometimes sadistic people – a separation that will affect them differently. Patel and Freida Pinto, the gorgeous actress who plays Latika as a young woman, lend their characters a street-wisdom beyond their years. But whereas Jamal still seems hopeful, Latika is cautious and cynical. Or at least she tries to be.

"Slumdog Millionaire" is so stylistically boisterous that its lasting impression is one of movement – of characters running or of trains speeding by. Yet the film is just as powerful when the camera settles.

This is especially true during the scenes on the set of "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire," the format for which matches the American version down to the English-language questions. (The film's dialogue is in English and Hindi, with English subtitles.)

Patel plays Jamal's on-camera moments beautifully, highlighting the young man's excellent recall as well as the savvy about human nature he developed on the street. As the host (played to smarmy perfection by Anil Kapoor) continually points out that Jamal is basically a tea fetcher, Jamal plays along, shrugging off the condescending tone. But when he must, he stands his ground in the manner of a young man who came up the hard way.

The compulsion of the TV host and others to question Jamal's ability and/or right to win – sometimes violently – speaks to the continued gulf between classes in modernizing Mumbai. But even the film's social commentary is laced with affection, presenting this city of 19 million as a place where people will take to the streets to cheer on a boy from the slums who made it on to a TV show.

Given its recent history, Mumbai is a city in need of a valentine – even one as warts-and-all gritty as "Slumdog Millionaire."

Call Bee movie critic Carla Meyer, (916) 321-1118. Hear her discuss the week's movies at 4:40 p.m. on Fridays on NewsTalk 1530 (KFBK).