With all the fanfare regarding Channel 4 showing the film Slumdog Millionaire tonight I am re-posting the review I wrote last year.
Also lurvely tweet chum and comrade … mister Raincoat has re-posted his so do check it out…..
Slumdog Millionaire, directed by Danny Boyle is a likable film. But since watching it I have wondered if my heart strings were needlessly pulled. And with the producers being the very people who make Who Wants to be a Millionaire….. I really enjoyed it originally but what was the political essence of the film? Boyle shows us the utter grim reality of grinding poverty in Mumbai, how people have to get by to just exist. The horrific scene of the pogrom against Muslims where Salim and Jamal witness their mother being beaten to death, later being exploited by a gang of criminals, then dramatically escaping. Jamal and Salim going their separate ways, how people make hard choices under adverse conditions . These experiences are linked to the questions the older Jamal is asked on the show.
But a lot of the politics has been diluted, there was a lot more social and political commentary in Boyle’s Trainspotting. It doesn’t get to the guts and savagery, the underlining reasons that underpin global exploitation. But it is a ‘feel good film’ and that’s the trajectory of the film. And yes, I was desperate for slumdog Jamal to win the money and to run off into the sunset with his ‘lost’ childhood love, Latika (gee Harpy, you old romantic fool….). And even with my criticisms, contradictorily, I wanted a happy ending …..for once!
The acting was exceptional especially the young children who played Jamal, Salim and Latika (although now the makers of the film have themselves, ironically, been accused of exploitation!). There are so many positive human qualities in Dev Patel’s Jamal, that you relate to him and care about what happens.
The cinematography is exceptional. It shows the beauty and squalor equally of Mumbai (but then I am sucker for the visual).
I’m going to do exactly the same – post review of this film from last year. Very nice review yourself I should say. Splitting up, lost childhood, adolescent love…who said psychoanalysis was dead?
Thanks comrade, will have a look at yours. You can’t beat good old psychoanalysis…Herr Doktor Freud will be proud…
hehe
[...] Posted in Film by raincoatoptimism on January 13, 2010 I’ve just noticed that my tweet chum Louise has reposted her review of Slumdog Millionaire, owing in part to recent excitement over the film and the Channel 4 airing tonight. So, as [...]
I absolutely hated this film – even more so because I had paid to see it. It uncritically shows terrible things in a way that they happen just because they happen. No examination of why they happen at all. Not even a hint of it. I didn’t feel for any of the characters at all and it really pissed me off that the woman was so passive. Total shite! (I liked the music though)
earwicga, I think Boyle was creating a ‘feel good’ film, and seemingly made a conscious decision not to include much deeper political examination, instead it is diluted. I also think it does look at, on a more personal level, at choices people make due to cicumstance.
I didn’t hate the film but I did find it lacking in social/political commentary but that is not the film Boyle was intending to make, I think. If you want to see a worse Boyle film then watch the shockingly bland and dull Sunshine. I was bored out of my mind and wanted a refund!
I suppose I don’t judge films on the intention of the film maker. Slumdog may look at the choices people make due to circumstance, but these are often from a limited amount of choices. What sets these limited range of choices is missing.
Thanks for the recommend, but I think I will take it up anytime soon
Reading about Maximum City does make me interested in how it will be translated to the screen. From reading about the book it looks like it would be impossible to whitewash social/political commentary.
Btw, have you seen The Reader yet – is it any good?
No, I haven’t seen The Reader as I just didn’t get around to seeing it and also it sounded like the bk was better and indeed I thought the bk excellent. And not a fan of Stephen Daldry
Re Slumdog, which I’ve now seen twice. So it doesn’t pass judgement on the causes of social issues in India – but it does a pretty good job of depicting extreme poverty, solitude, cruelty, desperation and love. It largely leaves the viewer to make his own mind up concerning socio-political causes – as you both note, it’s ultimately a feel-good film.
Specific themes, however, that are depicted and (I think) relevant
– corrupt state officials
– “rule of strength” facilitated by the above
– unrestrained and massively wealthy gangsters
– ignorant, spoilt, patronising (but occasionally generous) Westerners
– creativity and entrepreneurship
Guess what? HarpyMarx and Earwicga can’t enjoy a film for what it is unless it spells out a leftist critique of everything wrong with the world. The Left has never been keen on sutble messages, or on encouraging people to think for themselves.
It’s been a while Richard but I’ve really missed you