Millions

What would you do if you found hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash? If it simply fell from the sky and landed in your lap? Spend it? Save it? Give it away? That’s the dilemma facing seven-year-old Damian (Alex Etel) in Danny Boyle’s Millions.

Damian lives with his older brother Anthony (Lewis McGibbon) and recently widowed father (James Nesbitt) in the north of England. In most ways he’s a fairly typical kid except for the incarnations of saints that visit him throughout the day. Whether it’s Francis of Assisi or Saint Peter, Damian has the same question – ‘do you know Saint Maureen?’. Maureen is, of course, his beloved mum.

When several hundred thousand pounds falls from the sky and nearly flattens him, Damian is convinced the money is from God. His older brother has other ideas. As Damian stuffs handfuls of cash into neighbours’ letterboxes, Anthony uses his newfound wealth for more personal advancement.

The money is stolen and the thief – known only as ‘the man’ – wants his hard earned ill-gotten gains back. Fast.

Director Danny Boyle has made his reputation with dark, edgy films like Trainspotting and Shallow Grave. His credentials seem at odds with a family film about greed and generosity. Yet his work on Millions proves he is adept at directing films at both ends of the ratings.

With a knowing script by Frank Cotterell Boyce, Millions observes the close connection between cash and corruption. It doesn’t take long for people to forget their values when confronted by a pile of money. Yet despite the inherent moral perspective, the film avoids moralising, instead using humour to convey its message.

While magical realism is more at home in South and Central America than Northern England, the whimsical blending of fantasy and reality works well here. Damian’s open-hearted belief and longing to help others is startlingly novel compared to the grimy avarice and aspirations of those around him.

Damian doesn’t value the money. Money is just a thing, he says. It comes and goes. He’s looking for something that will last. He believes in God but doesn’t really know much about him. It is not a Bible he carries with him but a book of saints’ lives. Sadly none of them seem to give him much indication of what God is like.

In a key scene Damian is visited by the Apostle Peter who recounts to him the feeding of the five thousand. While acknowledging a miracle occurred, Peter explains that Jesus didn’t really provide food for the hungry. Instead he enabled those present to share what they had with each other. This simple but radical retelling alters Jesus from being the Lord who gives us what we need to live, to a man who can bring out the best in people. And that is the issue at the heart of the film; that humanity can redeem itself. 

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