Slumdog Millionaire (Movie Review)
Movie reviews on this site are slim pickings but we went to see Slumdog Millionaire (finally) last night and it was a profound experience. Many of us live in our safe western world homes worrying about what we don’t have rather than realising what we do have. I think the Slumdog reality of life in the slums, exploitation of the poor, and the depravity of both crime and justice in some societies is what really hits home. It’s easy to imagine everywhere is like us, feels like us, has the same security as us. They don’t. Even basics of life and sanitation are unavailable.
For example from Blue Planet Run: The Race to Provide Clean Drinking Water to the World (also available as a free PDF download>) – 1.1 billion people, that’s one in six, do not have access to clean drinking water. And 50% of the world don’t have access to the quality of water available in Rome 2,000 years ago. There are 1.8 million children dying of water-borne diseases yearly, one every 15 seconds.
So that’s what I really liked about Slumdog Millionaire. We need to understand that real people rise out of these slums and that corruption and crime are real obstacles to their survival and success. As westerners we really do look the other way about the plight of others. I’m not saying we should all give everything away but I am saying we should accept that we’re a global community and poverty is a global issue. Where do you think people who strap bombs on themselves are being bred and nurtured? If we want to win a war against terrorism, for example, we need a world of opportunity and justice. Torturing someone just makes a pool of people motivated to hate you / us / them.
The movie itself is excellently crafted in the fashion of a real cinematic experience of India – not a 2 hour gloss over and thanks for your ticket, sir. The best cinematography I’ve seen for a long, long time with rich colour and creative camera angles. You’d have to go and see it for that sentence to do it justice. If you haven’t been yet, check it out. Best movie in a long, long time. Very impressed.
