Slumdog Millionaire (Contains Spoilers)

This past fall, I went to see Happy Go Lucky, a film by Mike Leigh, the infamous "slice of life" writer/film director. The fact that it was written by him should have been fair warning, but being the eternal optimist that I am, and noting that the tagline of the film was, "The one movie this fall that will put a smile on your face," I thought I'd give it a try. I like to smile! However, when I left the cinema that day, I turned to one of my movie companions, sans smile, and said, "contemporary movies are like men today, the ones that could be great, usually disappoint."

Last night, I saw Slumdog Millionaire. I really wanted to love this film. I was surprised at the positive reviews it had received. In this day an age, I thought, films with happy endings and real heroes aren't ever praised. After watching the film myself, I understood why it received good reviews from retarded film critics.

Unfortunately, I merely LIKED Slumdog Millionaire (another disappointment... *sigh*). As far as films go, what could have been a shining light ends up being a little flicker in the dark murk of today's cinema. It is certainly a well-made film with a consistent hero, consistent villains, clear distinctions between good and evil, (one villain even has a realization, and a change of heart!), a struggle, a climax, a romantic storyline, but it left me with unanswered questions.

The main questions were, who is Latika, the object of Jamal's affection? Why does he love her? What makes her worthy of his love; the fact that she's so pretty? We don't get enough of her. I wanted to like her, but why should I? And how?

The film's motor is the love story. Love becomes Jamal's primary motivation, his highest value, and the achievement of that value is what keeps him going, but Latika seems to make some questionable choices in her life. This makes Jamal's desire questionable, if not superficial.

If I was to believe what the film wants me to believe, I'd believe that, "deep down inside, Latika is still that innocent little girl, the nameless third Musketeer." But is she? Choosing Jamal's brother in the hotel scene is either a horrible, lustful mistake, or an act of a martyr for a boy she loves. Either way, the choice stains her character because it demonstrates that either a.) she wanted Jamal's brother, or b.) she chose to live with the fact that she gave her body to a man she did not love, to save the one she did. If you chose B, then what you are saying is, "you CAN rape the willing!" But can you? When you consider it, you inevitably end up raising an eyebrow, and choosing A. That was MY final answer.

Later, when Jamal asks her to escape from a horrid relationship with a rich, yet violent man, her answer was something like, "And go where? To live on what?" I wished Jamal had asked, "You prefer THIS?"

The fact that she has chosen her life is proven later by the fact that she successfully escapes. Yes, it took Jamal's bad guy brother, after realizing that he wronged Jamal and that he owed him, to persuade her do the one thing she could do to save her own life. But the question remains, what would have happened if he hadn't persuaded and helped her escape? Given what we see in the movie, no answer is possible.

Any piece of literature shows you, via a character's choices, who that character essentially is. This is no different in a film. And since the story is about Jamal, and it is told from a third person point of view, which means that we the audience know what Jamal knows, it left me wondering, did I miss something? What does Jamal know about Latika that we don't?

Instead of amplifying the story, the romance deflates it. The film ends up flat, devoid of any moral substance, and therefore, any real meaning. It turns Latika into another pretty, yet brainless fairy tale representation of a woman, a kind of Sleeping Beauty or Snow White, awaiting rescue by a handsome prince who will come, someday. When considered thusly, the best thing about the movie, unfortunately for me, was that at least he was a VERY handsome prince.

:-\