My expectations were high and I kept waiting for the cynicism or inane cultural references to kick in, but they never did. Aside from the main crux of the plot, the English pound converting to Euros, the story is timeless and could happen anywhere, anytime.
Damian (Etel) and Anthony (McGibbon) are two young brothers whose mother has recently died. We never learn exactly when, or how; it’s irrelevant, and the movie doesn’t waste time rhapsodizing on the nature of death or grief. We gather it has been fairly recently, though, as the film opens with the boys’ father (Nesbitt) moving them out of their crowded city flat and into a brand-new pre-fab neighborhood in the suburbs. The film mostly follows Damian, the younger and more sensitive of the two brothers, and his imagination-filled romps through his new neighborhood. Convinced his mother is now a saint in Heaven, he fills his days learning as much about various saints as possible, and they often even appear to him to have simple conversations about the world.
One day a large bag of money seemingly falls from the sky and crushes the private playhouse he’s built out of large moving boxes. Imagining no other explanation except that it’s a gift from God, Damian takes it upon himself to spend it all on the poor and less fortunate. His attempts are reckless and silly, but he’s doing things the way he things they should be done, never realizing that people are taking advantage of him. Eventually we learn from where the money came, and the real world intrudes on his fantasy. There are dire lessons, and consequences as a result of his discovery, and Damian quickly learns not only about the corruptive power of greed, but also about the nature of true miracles.
With a plot this precious, it would have been very easy for “Millions” to fall into a saccharine falsity that plagues so many “uplifting” modern movies, but that’s why “Millions” succeeds so beautifully. Every moment feels genuine and sincere without pandering to the audience. Ostensibly a kid’s film, it’s also smart and realistic enough to be savored by adults, and treats kids as the thinking creatures they are, not as passive consumers.
Boyle imbues his young actors with enough wide-eyed and misguided naiveté to convince us of their true motivations, and rather than grate, it’s admirable and sweet. By the end of the film, I had tears running down my face, and I didn’t even care who saw. It’s not often I see a film and decide immediately that everyone I know, from my boyfriend to my mother, would be a better person for seeing it, and take it upon myself to make sure that they do. But “Millions” is one of those movies, and if theaters are packed everywhere the way my theater was the day I saw it, maybe there’s hope yet for humanity.
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