“SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE” (Dev Patel)
America, I hate to tell you this, but your darling film of 2008 is, for the most part, a piece of crap. To quote my sister-in-law, Dayna; “Someone should have told the director ‘Disturbing & Cheesy’ don’t go together.” So I wasn’t alone in disliking this movie. I came away thinking, ‘humans are sheep’ – If enough so-called experts tell them something is entertaining, they to will fall in line & say it was enjoyable because to say otherwise would make them a ‘minority’. It reminds me of when I was 10 years old & all of my friends started smoking; suddenly I became an outcast because I didn’t join in. I have never been one to do something because EVERYONE else is doing it. So for all of you that enjoyed this movie, here’s Mr. Go-Against-The-Grain’s logical summary of why you might possibly be covered in wool...
When the movie ended my first comment was, “The morale to this story is ‘Don’t Ever Become a Game Show Contestant in India Because They Will Torture You If You Win’.” The police attach a car battery & jumper cables to a kid’s toes in order to get him to confess that he cheated while playing India’s version of ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?’ even though there is absolutely no proof whatsoever that the young man figured out a way to cheat . . . HUH?
In the first of several flashbacks, we see a bunch of small boys playing on an airport’s landing strip – they are run off by airport security, one of whom yells, “If the planes don’t kill you then I will!” He’s trying to scare the brats away for their own safety & we’re supposed to regard this cruelty towards children... HUH? !
The story revolves around 3 children, Jamal, his older brother Salim & Latika, who becomes Jamal’s lifelong ‘dream girl’. We are witness to Salim & Jamal’s mother being murdered while washing clothes. No explanation is offered as to why a group of men rampage thru the slums of Mumbai, murdering & setting fire to both property & people other than one yelling “Death to Muslims!”
The children then find themselves in the care of 3 adult men that take in several orphaned slumdogs & ask them all to sing. The ones who sing well are blinded... HUH? Later we are told the reason for this is due to the fact that blind children singing on a corner bring in more money panhandling than sighted singers... Yeah, that makes a whole lot of sense – Let’s blind the talented ones because they’ll make us a couple extra rupees! If it were a case of becoming ‘rich’ by turning one of these kids into the next Stevie Wonder or Ray Charles, it would make a little bit of sense (Not much, but a little) But these are beggars who are going to spend their lives singing on street corners & at train stations! It was just plain dumb. So far we’re led to believe that in India its okay to torture game show contestants & burn out the eyes of orphans.
The soundtrack was atrocious! The loud annoying songs were giving me a headache & then it dawned on me that 2 of these musical blasphemies were nominated for best song.
I was so glad when Salim & Jamal fell off a moving train because the horrible singing that was accompanying the scene finally stopped!
We then move forward a few years & now Jamal suddenly speaks perfect English – there’s no explanation for this, & apparently Salim & Jamal have been living on their own, begging & thieving their way thru life. Who taught them how to speak English? The boys spend their childhood hoodwinking & stealing from innocent tourists, & we’re supposed to feel sorry for these miscreants?
The movie keeps flipping back & forth from childhood to the adult Jamal (Dev Patel) playing ‘Millionaire’. I was so happy when Jamal answered the million rupee question correctly because I thought the boring game show scenes were finally over!’... But no, apparently in India winning a million rupees doesn’t make you a millionaire, winning 20 million rupees makes you a millionaire... HUH? So, unfortunately, we’ve still got a long, long way to go...
Another problem is that Jamal had the personality of a soap dish. He was a BORING character. Did I feel sorry for him? Yes. Did I find him to be an interesting character? Not in the least.
The ‘heart’ of the story of course is Jamal’s never ending love for Latika. Let’s examine this touching relationship; they spent a short time together as children while in the care of the ‘3 blinding mice’. Then they have brief encounters as teenagers & as young adults; in the teenaged encounter, Salim commits a murder of revenge & then forces Latika to have sex with him for saving her. For some unexplainable reason, Jamal accepts this & leaves them to have their ‘affair’.
After being tortured for ‘cheating’ on a game show, Jamal is interrogated & tells the police chief that he wanted to get on the show because he knew Latika watched it. No explanation is offered as to HOW an ex-slumdog/now tea server at a call center was selected to be a contestant, but it is obvious from the beginning that the powers that be at the TV station didn’t want him on – so how did it happen?
So, Jamal & Latika don’t really know one another at all. The longest time they spent together was as small children. So the whole ‘love of my life’ concept is a little far-fetched. ‘Slumdog’ also suffers from having bad actors play uninteresting roles.
When time finally catches up to the modern day, “Slumdog Millionaire” turns into a third rate, poorly acted ‘gangster’ film. The actor that plays adult Salim is one of the worst in movie history. Somehow during his growth period, Salim’s facial bone structure underwent some radical changes which left him with an oddly shaped chin/jaw line & he’s almost impossible to understand. Salim’s final scene is laughable - & keeping with the theme of the film, no explanation is offered as to why he began shooting his co-horts while sitting in a bath tub full of money (Insert another ‘HUH?’ here)
At the beginning of the movie a question is printed on the screen – How could a boy that grew up uneducated in the slums of Mumbai answer the questions that were put to him on ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?’ A) He knew the answers B) He cheated C) He guessed D) It is written... The answer is A) We know this because with every question we are shown a flashback that tells us why he knows the answer – For example, when they finally start asking him questions that an uneducated Indian lad shouldn’t be privy to, the first one is ‘Whose picture is on the American $100 dollar bill?’. As Jamal stares at ‘Hindu Regis’ with the same blank look he’s used on every question, we are shown a flashback of young Jamal encountering one of the blinded children he knew & he gives the boy a $100 bill. How did Jamal, a homeless kid, get a $100? & why did he give it away? Did I doze off from boredom & miss something? Because that didn’t make sense to me at all!
Anyway, after showing us repeatedly how Jamal knew the answers, the initial question is put up on the screen once again at the end& we’re shown that the ‘real’ answer ISN’T A) He knew the answers . . . All right, all together now – HUH?
7 comments:
Glad to see you liked the movie so much. Think it's a man and woman thing ? Becuase I really liked the movie. In my top 10 of the year most definitely. But I remembered a client of mine that suggested the movie to me way back when, and they reminded me to think of the film in a Oliver Twist kind of way before going in. Yes, obviously what happens to Jamal probably wouldn't happen, but we are talking about a book and movie. It is fiction.
I think I can answer some of your questions ( your hmms )
First, how does the teenage Salim and Jamal all of the sudden know English ? From learning it being faux tour guides. It's been said the teens in Mumbai will speak English half of the time. Plus, like most country's, English is the second language. Second, as for their thieving and conning people, what else would you expect them to do ? That's based on real slums of Mumbai. That's not made up. They are left to fend for themselves at a very young age and had to escape a future of slavery. They only know how to steal. They weren't raised correctly. They fend for themselves the best they can. It's about survival and not starving. There isn't a whole lot of foster parents adopting street kids in Mumbai. At least Jamal has a good heart and doesn't follow his brother into a life of crime. The author of the book was on PBS some time ago and he said he took the boys having to undergo blindness which was taken from a true story. How there are these sharks out there feeding off of homeless children. India's throwaways and using them to panhandle. Basically fed enough to live, but more or less slaves than murdered when they get too big. Sad. It's a crime but the country is corrupt and the police even more so.
As for Salim going out the way, he was tired of his underworld life and tired of that boss and knew there was no way out but by killing the boss. Plus, there was a little revenge factor thrown in because I believe Salim had something for Latika as well. And he knew if he was going to kill the boss, then he'd most likely have to deal with the crew too. So he decides to go out with a bang. Which is what happened. And I don't find it all the unbelievable in a boy still crushing on his childhood sweetheart. I dated a boy in high school I fancied since the third grade, so I could also relate to that.
I also liked it better having a no name cast because I don't think it would have seemed as gritty or real with A list actors. It wouldn't have seemed realistic.
I personally thought it was clever writing on how he comes up with the answers. It wasn't my favorite movie of the year but I can see why a lot of people like it. You know I'm not wearing any wool because I broke the film down to you pretty matter of fact. Plus, the bottom line to the story at it's heart is a love story. Being a female I'm a sucker for a good love story, and that it stayed from being hammy with the love story surrounded with danger and grittiness.
I agree with you that many American's have sheep like mentality, but I feel safe in that I think a lot of people just genuinely like this movie. It's definitely something you don't always see and had a original story to it.
I think more people are more sheepish when it comes to blockbuster's than a film like Slumdog.
Looks like a goose egg weekend for me as there is NOTHING new worth seeing. Oh well, I'm getting Runnin' Down A Dream this weekend, as suggested by Terry, so that will occupy a couple weekend evenings.
Hey, movie luva, save some room for some other commenters. I kid ! You said everything I was going to say pretty much. I knew Terry wouldn't like it. But I'm glad he saw it. I was also in the thought of thinking that it's Dickensian tale, so the kind of far fetched slum kid getting onto Who Wants To Be A Millionaire show is supposed to be a wink-wink ( I get it ) way of thinking going into the film.
It's not my favorite movie of the year but I really do think all of the people who liked it are sincere about it. It's a hard tale to dislike as story's go. I also think that Danny Boyle, who WILL win Sunday night, did a very good job considering the budget, the location of filming and directing new comers ( except the game host )
You really can't say that every director could have pulled that off. Or want to for that matter. I'm fine with it winning best picture because it's an underdog story with an ending that was good instead of where it could have gone with the doom and gloom. So a best picture and a best adapted screenplay I'm OK with. NOT in the cinematograpghy, score or sound though. Editing ? I personally thought Milk had the best editing.
I am happy for the film's success because it overcame great odds. It's cool that movies like this can get made and succeed when you see stuff with 150 million dollar budgets, that don't make their money back and pay some actor 25 million dollars and the movie is lame.
I would be lying if I didn't say that I'm looking forward to 2009 and that 2008 was a bit of a down year.
Ah, cruisng your page to see if you saw any new movies, and you got around to seeing Slumdog. I liked the movie. Even saw it twice. It goes up in my opinion because it's a film I had no expectation of. I wasn't familar with it when it first came out other than knowing Danny Boyle directed Trainspotting and The Beach.
I can't really express why I thought it was good to me because I'm not a very good writer at writing down my feelings. I just liked the story. It's not something you see over and over in movies. And I felt the no name cast worked for the setting of the film. I don't think it would have gone very well seeing Tobey Maguire and Leonardo Di Caprio running around India with self tanned faces. I liked the fresh, unrecognizable faces for once.
In the end I guess it's all about the story, and it was a good story, I mean the boy gets the money and the girl. It could have been so much worse of an ending to a pretty grim story to begin with.
Baa,baa, Movieluva, you haven't any wool! But allow me to dispute your explanations by pointing out that you are merely speculating some of your responses - &, most of them you did not learn from watching the film, but discovered afterward. Jamal was speaking 'perfect' English - it would have been more realistic if it was a bit 'broken'. I understood their circumstances, I just found it difficult to root for 'thieves' - Kids here get paper routes, cut lawns, etc. If they were good kids they would have found other ways to make money other than stealing. Your explantion of Salim's final scenes is pure speculation, which is fine, there's nothing wrong with having a scene or 2 that viewers can discuss & interpret, but 'SM' had too many. I do have to disagree with Salim having feelings for Latika. Wasn't he the one who made her sit out in the downpour when they were small? Wasn;t he the one who virually raped her as a teen & wasn;\'t he the one who sliced her face with a knife when she tried to escape with Jamal at the train station?
If he had anything for Latika, it was 'ownership', not love.
Your quote about blockbusters can't be argued with, but I definitely believe there are a lot of ewes riding on the Slumdog bandwagon...
dbm & I are both Tom Petty fans & he hasn't seen 'Running Down A Dream' the 4 hour documentary on Tom's career. If you haven't seen it, try to take the time - I guarentee your esteem of Mr. Petty's contribution to music will escalate. I wonder why anyone would think this film deserves 'Best adadpted screenplay' when it is written around a game show that was popular a decade ago - Wouldn't it have been more 'original' if the writer had invented his own Indian game show concept instead of ripping off someone else's idea?
I mean, how important is the 'Millionaire' concept to the plot? It's essential. I guess it didn't do much for me because I watch game shows on TV all the time, so it made the movie feel kind of 'cheap' to me.
Don't seel your writing abilities short, blue stater (#1, you call yourself blue stater, that already means you're smarter than the average red stater) because I chuckled while picturing Tobey & Leonardo running around India in Apu-wear ripping off tourists & going on game shows. But how about this for an improvement; we put Robert Downey, Jr. as Kirk Lazarus, having his skin darkened (just a little this time) to play Hindu Regis, the game show host?
Because one of my main complaints here is that none of these actors had any PIZZAZ.
I thank you all for your comments & especially for not stooping to calling me an idiot for not liking this beloved film - None of you has to worry about being shorn for your wool.
One thing you cannot say about Slumdog is that it definitely has parts of it that will draw discussion among people. These are good arguements.
One thing about the book this movie is based on, is the trueness to the little kids that live in the slums and streets of Mumbai. Some that are born into a filthy life, some parentless. They don't have jobs for little kids, unless they pan handle or steal. Some just grow up that way since being toddler's. And don't find out about things until it's too late. Imagine a slum with tin roofs going for miles without proper sewage or sanitation larger than Seattle. That's why I softened up for the movie. Because it's about getting out and maiking your life better. Because Jamal got out and with the love of his life no less, and got paid, when just one wrong answer here or a wrong decision there, and the outcome would have been completely different. In the end it made me feel warm inside. I also think they are a little behind the times and that show is still popular there or at least was when the screenplay was written. Remember it was written by previous Oscar winner of The Full Monty. Another one of my favorite movies.
I can see how you could feel the way you did about Salim, I just felt he had a love/hate thing for her. I could be wrong. And I think the kids are learning English when it shows them at about the 10-12 range.
It was good to see some well thought out remarks on this topic. And I too laughed at blue stater's comment. And I do like Tom Petty ( I'm 38 ) and grew up on certain rock music and Petty was one of them. I'll have to mark that movie down.
Now I must go to bed as I have to meet with a client tomorrow morning at 11:30 am. Looking forward to the next topic of discussion. It's kind of funny how it seems most of these people that come to this blog were people who remember you from KJR or they knew someone who heard of you, except I think blue stater ?
Some parts of the movie were a little weird. I watched it because a friend of mine couldn't stop talking about it (she actually downloaded THE WHOLE soundtrack).
Like, the Salim/Latika sex thing...why did Jamal never ever talk about it again? Why did none of them ever talk about it again? And if Jamal loved Latika so much, how could he ever stand to look at Salim again?
And yeah, Jamal is WEIRD. He doesn't have the interesting personality or even the looks that could make him a memorable hero. What I don't understand is why people love him, and this movie, so much.
What I did like was the movie's main point about destiny and that everything happens for a reason - though the theme is so cliche that you're just like, "Ok, I knew this already...what else is new?"
But still, it was nice to see how every aspect of his life led to the answer of one of the questions, despite it being more than a little far-fetched. That's the only aspect I liked, though.
Finally! Another free thinker that doesn't ALWAYS go along with the crowd! I completely agree with every one of your comments, Lilithas. Is there anybody else that can't figure out why the entire country fell in love with this C- film?
Post a Comment