I watched the movie Slumdog Millioanire a few weeks ago and I was very amazed at how well produced and deliveredit was. The story line was well executed and the concept was genius.
I am not a great Indian movie fan however having grown up in Sri Lanka in the early 80's it was part of our staple diet to watch vast amounts of Hindi movies and I always had a little thing for Anil Kapoor (the actor who plays the role of Who wants to be a millionaire host). Although you dont actually see Amithab Bachan, a classic great of the Bollywood movie lineage even gets a mention.
Whilst I am very impressed by the movie it got me thinking about how real the reality of this movie was and how it was infact the way of life for a lot of people in India and other Third World countries. Families living in such diabolical conditions without even the basics of functionalities. Mothers raising children with no access to social care of benefits, some children having to fend for themselves without parents to even keep a basic eye on them. This is the reality for people.
I have been in two minds about this film. Do i just say it was a great movie and celebrate the recognition it got at the Oscars because it had a white producer or do I get really pissed off that this white producer/director felt that he would pity the lives of this people and try to be patronising by making this film.
I have yet been unable to make up my mind so my thoughts on this are very very torn and confused.
To make me even more confused angry and frustrated was the other day I learnt in the news that the child star in the movie who played the role of Salim was in fact a real life child who lived in the cery same conditions and had his family bulldozed. Irrespecitive of whether this child had been in the movie or not, this child still lived in conditions that were not acceptable and I really feel our governments should really look at their priorities. These people get treated better than dogs and that is a very sad thing. I was told that I was getting upset for nothing as the family had been offered a home and instead they asked for the cash value or the home and also that the children had had trust funds set up. Irrespective, the Millionaires who invested in this low budget movie and are now enjoying the fruits of their "hard work"/"investment should have come together and done something to erradicate the lifestyle conditions of these people who they are making films about. The family will ofcourse demand the money as they are uneducated and only know the quality and way of life that they have been leading more or less all their lives. The producers could have bought the land as I am certain the strength of the pound/dollar would have gone far in India.
People who live in the first world love to pretend and act like they understand the suffering and quality of life that these people and they love to make movies about the plight and struggles. I was very impressed though that no white person played a self righteous role even though you had the German and American tourist however I was still wondering what was the message behind the movie. What was the after plan? Had Danny Boyle made this movie as pure entertaintment as the concept was pure genius or had he made it hoping to bring awareness to the situation and conditions that these people lived in?
Since i drafted this post - I understand through the media that a foundation/trust has been set up for the children and they have been given homes. xxxx
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