Warning: I will be discussing major plot points, and the ending. So if you have not seen the movie yet stop reading.
I have this theory that the more hype I hear about how great a movie is, the more disappointing it will actually turn out to be. I was delightfully surprised in 1995 when, after several months out in the theaters, I finally let a friend drag me to see Forrest Gump. That movie lived up to the hype. It was that good.
I was also pleasantly surprised two months ago when I went and finally saw Gran Torino. Again, a great story that ran the gamut from hilarious to heart-breaking. Well done.
But my first thoughts after walking out of the Slumdog Millionaire theater (actually before I even walked out) were that this story was not "believable." And the lack of believability was at many levels. Perhaps I'm just a naive American who doesn't understand the horrible lifestyles that the rest of the world lives in. If so, then the world is in greater trouble than I thought (and I already thought we were in a great deal of trouble as it was). But, even aside from the horrors of the children (which, honestly, I'll have to do some research on), there were so many things about this movie that I just didn't buy.
First and foremost... If I've just spent the night being tortured (...and I don't mean lightly tortured, like being smacked around a little bit. I mean really harshly tortured by near drowning, and then being strung up to hang while electrodes are run through me...) If I've spent the whole evening and next day going through that, and then find myself sitting on national television with millions of people watching later that evening- the first words out of my mouth certainly are not going to be "Yes I'm ready to play for more money." They're going to be more like, "I want the world to know that you had me tortured last night you sadistic bastard!"
Also, how many times did that guy "go back" for his girl? If you're infatuated with a girl (or, ladies, if you're infatuated with a guy), and you have to go back again, and again, and again, and again... and again to win her back- she ain't worth it! And I didn't buy the convenient ending, either. If his purpose for going on the show was to find his long-lost girl, then why did he wait until the end to call her? I suppose one could argue that the more he won, the more attention he knew the show would get, and therefore he waited so the viewing audience would build. But what if he missed a question and got booted off the show before getting to use his phone a friend lifeline? That was an even bigger gamble than the questions themselves were. Nope, I just didn't believe any of that.
The realistic movie would have lasted 5 minutes. It would have been some kid on the millionaire show being introduced by the host... "Well, Jamal, why don't you tell us a little about yourself?"
"I'm an 18 year old kid who has been through unmentionable horrors! My girlfriend was kidnapped and forced into prostitution as a child! I haven't seen her in years, and I know that she is being held by organized crime lords! Latika, where are you! I love you, and I want to rescue you! Help police- didn't you hear me? My girlfriend was kidnapped by the mob!"
Now, aside from the plot holes, there were other things that I just didn't like about this movie. It was two hours of exposure to a story of how misguided children can grow up to become gangsters. Halfway through the movie I found myself thinking, "How is this movie any different from (Brian De Palma's 1983 Al Pacino film) Scarface?" Both movies had me feeling that I wasn't being shown any positive values at all. They were both just bad stories about how a bad person grows up realising the benefits of being bad, and as a result gets worse until he meets his demise in a spray of bullets. I never saw the appeal of Scarface. I never understood the infatuation with that evil rise to power. Why is that entertainment? If I didn't like seeing a grown man go through it, why would I have any interest in seeing some little kid go through it?
If the movie was supposed to take place in the present, then the horrible things this kid went through in his childhood were just 10 - 15 years ago. I am going to have to do some human rights research into recent Indian history and see if there is any validity to the claims that this movie makes about the horrible lifestyle in that country. I think I'll start with the Amnesty International web page and see what they have to say. I respect that organization. If you are curious as I am, then you can read what they have to say here.
Long story short: this was a two hour ordeal to sit through. A long, slow, depressing story, with unrealistic, unbelievable circumstances, and a neat, tidy ending that honestly just didn't work.
(And what the heck was with that Thriller video in the end all about?)
I was disappointed. Slumdog didn't fly. The real best movie of 2008 was Gran Torino.
2 comments:
Good points, Joe. The movie was totally unbelieveable. But that could be said about any movie, really.
The horrific living conditions are indeed true in a lot of countries of the world. We are truly very lucky to live in the US, in spite of its negatives.
As for the torture scene, that kind of thing goes on daily, in multiple locations all over the world. Even our own government engages in such practices, as we have seen already. The police force is so corrupt in some places that announcing on national television that he had been tortured would have gone unheeded. He knew this, & to him, it was more important, & more likely that he contact his lost love. It was his only remaining hope.
As for waiting to call the girl until the end, if you remember, he didn't call her. He was trying to call his brother, the only phone number that he knew. She just happened to have his brother's cell phone because he had given it to her when he helped her to escape.
I have a Romanian friend who grew up in a similar environment to that depicted in Slumdog Millionaire. She didn't like the movie either, saying that it was a simplistic solution to a deep-rooted problem. She was insulted that Hollywood could reduce such suffering to such an inconceivable ending. I reminded her that we in the US are used to movies about underdogs who finally get a break in life. It's the formula.
Though I agree that the story was totally unbelievable, I think it was a good way to open the eyes of many of us in the US. For example, it got you to check out the information that Amnesty International has on India. Hopefully you now know more about the atrocities that occur every day to thousands of innocent people. & hopefully others who have seen the movie will have the same questions that you did, & will be more aware of the cruelty in the world, & of the privilege that we enjoy living in the US - & you may have a better understanding of why so many people risk their lives to cross the border to live here.
It's a jungle out there.
I was really disappointed with Slumdog, too.
Gran Torino was awesome. I was surprised it didn't get any Oscar nods.
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