Millions is a 2004 British comedy-drama film directed by Danny Boyle, and starring Alex Etel, Lewis Owen McGibbon, and James Nesbitt. The film's screenwriter Frank Cottrell-Boyce adapted his novel while the film was in the process of being made. The novel was subsequently awarded the Carnegie Medal.
Plot[]
The story of Damian, a 9-year-old Catholic school boy, whose family moves to the suburbs of Widnes after the death of his mother. Soon after the move, Damian whilst playing in a cardboard box by the train tracks, is disturbed by a bag of money flung from a passing train. Damian immediately shows the money to his brother, 12-year-old Anthony, and the two begin thinking of what to do with it. Anthony wants the money all to himself, but Damian, kind-hearted, religious, and inspired by a lecture at school, looks for ways to give his share of the money to the poor.
Throughout the story, Damian commits small acts of kindness, such as buying birds from pet stores and setting them free, and taking beggars to Pizza Hut. On the other hand, Anthony bribes other kids at school into being his transport and bodyguards, and looks into investing the money in real estate. A mysterious man comes snooping around the train tracks, and asks Damian if he has any money. Damian thinks that the man is a beggar and tells him he has "loads of money". However, a suspicious Anthony gives the man a jar full of coins to cover Damian's tracks.
The story takes place in the weeks leading up to The Bank of England and the United Kingdom's fictionalized change from the pound (£) to the euro (€), an event publicized as "€ Day". An assembly is held at Damian's school to inform the children about the change, as well as to educate them about helping the poor. Realizing that the money, which is in pounds, will be no good after a few days, Damian decides that it would be best to give it away before the conversion. He drops £1,000 into the donation can at the assembly. The woman collecting the money, Dorothy, reports Damian to the principal. Anthony lies that he and Damian stole the money from missionaries. Damian and Anthony are grounded that night. When their father collects them from school he chats with Dorothy, and there is an obvious attraction between them.
After the donation, Anthony's friend informs them that a train carrying banknotes, which were to be destroyed after the conversion, had been robbed. One bag was stolen in a diversion, the robbers then distracted the police before escaping into a crowd of football fans. However, a robber remained on the train disguised as one of the emergency staff, and the money had been dispersed by throwing it off of the train at various locations throughout the country, to be collected by other robbers. The boys logically conclude that their money was stolen, and Damian, who thought the money was from God, feels terrible.
The mysterious man on the train tracks is one of the robbers looking for the bag. He eventually finds out where Damian lives and ransacks the house. Damian had informed his father about the money just before they came home to their destroyed house. The robber who came sneaking around hid in Damian's room after ransacking it, much in the way the original robbery was carried out. Damian's father, who had resolved to give the money back, decided that if the robbers were going to steal his family's Christmas, then he would steal the robbers' money. The family, as well as Dorothy, go on a massive shopping spree on Christmas Eve.
That night, after they are asleep, their house is bombarded by beggars and charities begging for contributions and, seeing the confusion that ensues, Damian runs off to the train tracks to burn the money, deciding that it was doing more harm than good. Meanwhile, the robber sneaks through the backdoor and is arrested by the police. While Damian was burning the money, he is visited by his dead mother, who tells him not to worry about her.
In the final scene, the audience sees Damian's dream of the family flying a rocket ship to Africa and helping develop water wells, while Damian narrates over the scene that each family member but him had hidden a little bit of the money beforehand. Damian convinced them to spend this money on the wells he is dreaming about. Earlier in the movie that was shown to be the cheapest way to drastically improve the quality of life for many African communities.
Cast[]
- Alex Etel as Damian Cunningham
- Lewis Owen McGibbon as Anthony Cunningham
- James Nesbitt as Ronald Cunningham
- Daisy Donovan as Dorothy
- Christopher Fulford as The "Poor Man"
- Pearce Quigley as Community Policeman
- Jane Hogarth as Maureen
- Alun Armstrong as Saint Peter
- Enzo Cilenti as Saint Francis of Assisi
- Nasser Memarzia as Saint Joseph
- Kathryn Pogson as Saint Clare of Assisi
- Harry Kirkham as Saint Nicholas
- Cornelius Macarthy as Gonzaga
- Kolade Agboke as Ambrosio
- Leslie Phillips as himself