Slumdog Millionaire

My most prominent thought during Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire" is that everyone who can get out of India, should. As portrayed in this film, India is a merciless, crime-ridden jungle, where the police and other authorities do nothing to prevent the powerful and corrupt from stealing and ruining everything the weaker might hold dear e.g. friends, family or any monetary wealth accumulated, no matter how small. If someone has the physical strength to take it, they will. Perhaps, I am being naive about the state of my own country. However, I do feel that if I go to work five days a week, I am careful with keeping my belongings and family secure, then I will keep those things and be able to live comfortably and without fear of them all being taken away at the whim of a ruthless criminal. This is simply not the case for Jamal Malik, an Muslim orphan, who is trying to change his Shakespearean tragedy of a life by winning "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?". While the basic premise for this movie does nothing to prepare you for the horror of this boys life, it is anything but a cheesey melodrama.

Jamal has grown up in the slums of Mumbai India alongside his older brother Salim. Jamal and Salim are very troublesome children, always getting into trouble as shown in an early scene reminiscent of "City of God," where they both flee police officers,running in-between shanties, climbing on roofs, assaulting the officers from above and, of course, taunting them ludely. After their Muslim mother is killed by zealous Hindus, the boys quick thinking and resourcefulness saves their lives as they build a gang of "con-children," who scam tourists outside the Taj-Mahal.

Much of the story of Jamal's life is told in order to explain to the police how it is an uneducated kid from the slums has successfully answered the first seven questions on the aforementioned game show--enough questions to earn him 10,000,000 rupees. Since no one else in India has accomplished this feat, police have spent the night after the show, which ran just short of the final question, torturing Jamal in order to get him to confess to cheating.

During the course of Jamal and Salim's treacherous childhood they meet Latika, another child left alone after the Muslim massacre. While Jamal quickly develops feelings for Latika, Salim is sees her as a threat to the bond between he and his brother. Throughout the movie Salim attempts to end Jamal's infatuation, but Jamal refuses to give up hope of being with Latika.

Slumdog Millionaire's love story will capture many people's emotions, but what makes this story most compelling is the way these young children survive at all in such a cruel and unforgiving land like India. For the three main characters, life is brutal, and hope for a safe and comfortable existence is always beyond their reach. While it is obvious early on, Jamal believes that he and Latika were born for each other; as Jamal relays his story to the police, these are the questions Jamal was born to answer.