Best of Oscar, Part 2: Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire
Written for the screen by Simon Beaufoy, directed by Danny Boyle, and starring Dev Patel, Freida Pinto and Madhur Mittal.

(Mild story spoilers follow.)

Jamal and his older brother Salim are slumdogs. Born in the sprawling complex of shanty towns that surround the city of Mumbai, these street-wise kids are naturally-born survivors, whose life takes a turn for the worse when their mother is killed by an anti-Islamic lynch mob. Jamal, Salim and Latika, a girl joining the brothers in the chaos following the raid, have to look out for themselves, growing up in an Indian country that is unfriendly and sometimes outright hostile, but is also full of opportunities.

Fast-forward to several years later when Jamal, now a young man, becomes a contestant on the Indian version of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire”, a show that not even academics and the educated social elite have been able to crack. Yet that’s exactly what Jamal, the slumdog, is about to do – he is one question away from winning the 20 million rupee grand price when the show breaks for the night with a well-timed cliffhanger ending.  Arrested for alleged cheating as he leaves the studio, Jamal recounts his life to the untrusting police officers as he tries to show why he knew all the answers leading up to the last and final question.

I seem to be the only person on the planet who didn’t like Slumdog Millionaire. Friends are raving about it, webpages have crowned it the Oscar front runner, Time magazine published a whole article on the movie’s unlikely success. Unsurprisingly I went to the theater with high expectations, and left feeling very underwhelmed.
It’s not that I think Slumdog Millionaire is a bad movie. It’s a logistical masterpiece that deserves the Oscar for best director and cinematography. The story structure, with Jamal recalling life events that led to him knowing the answers to the entire quiz show, is neat. And the movie provides much-needed perspective on India, a country of over 1 billion people that we’re all connected with in some shape or form (just try calling your company’s tech support).

But I’m having one very fundamental problem with Slumdog Millionaire: as a movie-going experience, it simply wasn’t enjoyable. I’m not asking for a “fun” experience that is fluffy, forgettable and sugar-coats life. But I do expect something that connects with me; something that affects me on a fundamental level. Slumdog Millionaire did not provide that experience. Instead of bringing me closer to India – showing me that even halfway across the globe, we’re all connected and share the same problems, hopes and dreams – Slumdog Millionaire alienated me. It doesn’t paint a pretty picture of India and its people, and the love/fate story that holds the movie together and supposedly shows the triumph of the human spirit has been done better in other movies. I left the theater asking myself what I took away from the movie, and wasn’t left with much.

Obviously that is a very personal (and harsh) opinion, but it hasn’t changed as I look back at the movie with a few days’ perspective. I do not want to see this movie again! With the exception of two of the main characters, every person in this movie is selfish, unempathetic to others, or downright evil. Few things happening to the kids as they grow up are positive. The movie is bleak from beginning to end, and quickly starts feeling like a too-realistic version of Lemony Snicket’s Series Of Unfortunate Events. Salam’s inevitable triumph at the end of the movie does not make up for those 110 minutes of hardship. I can’t even feel good for him, because the movie has taught me that “you know what? Don’t expect this moment to last, things will go to shit again in an instant”. The inevitable Bollywood dance number that plays during the credits almost feels cynical.

“Best Picture Nominee” Worthiness: 2.5/5. Don’t get me wrong, I can very much see why Slumdog Millionaire is nominated. I can even see why so many people liked it. But personally speaking, the movie simply did not work for me. I’m fully prepared to watch movies with uncomfortable themes and storylines, as long as they leave me with some sort of hopeful feeling, maybe the reaffirmation of the triumph of the human spirit, at the end. Slumdog Millionaire did not make that connection with me. And that’s the reason I hope that it does not win the Oscar for Best Picture.

Read the series introduction
Part 1: The Reader