REVIEW: Real message found in Oscar winner
The problem with living up here in the tiny city of Logan is that it takes forever for some of the more independent films to come our way. That’s why I was happy to see that Academy Award Winner for best picture, “Slumdog Millionaire,” had finally found its way here. With so much hype and its recent Oscar win, I had to go see it.
“Slumdog” takes place in the ghettos and shanty towns of India. This is real poverty. People living in landfills trying to gather anything they can of value. Rivers so polluted you wouldn’t dare set foot in them, yet they are used as the communal washroom. An amazing shot at the beginning of the film depicts exactly how widespread this poverty is. As the camera pans upward for a bird’s eye view of the city, it reveals a patchwork of rusted tin roofs as far as the eye can see. One could easily get lost in a place like that, and in a way they do. These are the forgotten people of the world.
“Slumdog” begins with Jamal Malik being tortured by Indian police. Jamal has been accused of cheating on the widely popular Indian version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.” Jamal has grown up in the slums of India facing starvation and death almost daily. As the movie progresses, we learn that it is because of Jamal’s personal experiences in life that he knows the answers being asked to him on the show.
While seated in the police station, the detective puts in a tape of Jamal’s performance on the show. As each question rolls by we get flashbacks of why exactly Jamal knows that specific answer. It’s almost as if the questions were written just for him, acknowledging all the experiences Jamal has had.
The flashbacks include Jamal, his brother Salim and the love of Jamal’s life, Latika. We find out that at a young age Jamal and Salim are orphaned when their mother is killed. Each day they have to be resourceful enough to survive, which in most cases means stealing.
Salim is the stronger older brother, and Jamal more passive. Salim takes control in almost every situation. While Salim has a deep caring for his brother, at times his greed and self-determination get in the way of what he should do. Jamal is in love with Latika. Ever since they were children, the two have had connection that cannot be explained here with words. But, as their cruel lives unfold, Jamal is separated from his love on more than one occasion.
Whether Jamal actually wins the “Millionaire” show is irrelevant. It only serves as a way for us to get an inside glimpse into this extremely real problem in India and around the world. People live in terrible poverty, but out of that poverty something special is able to blossom. Poverty, no matter how bad, cannot damper the human spirit. That is the real message of “Slumdog Millionaire.”
–aaron.peck@aggiemail.usu.edu