I finally managed to see the much-hyped Slumdog Millionaire. To be honest, this was both a shocking and a pleasing experience, mainly because one cannot be prepared for some of the things that happen in this film. All other things set aside, I couldn’t explain to myself how this film got awarded a total of 8 Oscars (if memory serves me right); but then, on the one hand, some possibilities for storytelling are apparently unknown to Hollywood, and on the other, awards do not matter at all if a work of art cannot speak to the reader/listener/viewer in any way.
Slumdog Millionaire did speak to me a lot, however. The poverty depicted in the film is not unreal, as any and all people who have observed it will confirm. Neither is the ethnic/religious violence something devised for the film or invented for purposes of plot and character; unfortunately, such episodes of blood and death are well known in Indian history under the name of communalism, something Mahatma Gandhi spoke of very often. One could accuse the film’s team of showing only one side of communalist violence, but that is the farthest any historically well-informed critic could get. Of course, any production of such proportions will stir trouble and cause controversy, but I will not go into further details here: I find that the points I just mentioned are the farthest-reaching ones. These items should be on the agendas of local, state and international decision-making entities because action is needed, not words — as always.
The film tells its story in several threads which are woven into one toward the end. I was at times shocked and at times deeply moved by the events unfolding on my screen. The most profound of these was perhaps Jamal and Latika’s undying love which, to my mind, is one of the deepest, most affirmative statements about the human spirit I’ve seen recently. I think this is a central motif everyone can relate to. Naturally, this type of story is not new; the film sets it in a location rather vaguely known to Western Europe and North America, and I would venture that that is what spelt the movie’s success in huge capital letters all across NA and European cinemas. Slumdog Millionaire does not tell a brand new story, but does so with power, beauty, and belief in our strength to overcome barriers of money, hatred, violence, and — most importantly — time in the name of love. That makes it a highly recommendable experience.
