Slumdog Millionaire is a movie which touches many problems, such as poverty, love, destiny, education, slavery in the modern world, prostitution, etc. Watching this movie, one should think about personal life as about an opportunity to get to know much data without being subjected to dangerous problems. The modern world is developing, however, there are places and situations which continue shock with their barbaric customs.
The movie under consideration shows the life of a poor Indian boy who has come to the TV show not with the desire to become rich, he is reduced of any material interest. His only purpose in this TV show is to make sure that she watches it.
The movie deeply discusses the live of poor boy from slum whose only goal in the life to save a girl he loved when he was a boy. Along with the central ideas of the movie, it raises a lot of different problems which may be too distant from people in the civilized world but which are too close to those who live in poor Indian slums.
Trying to get the deep meaning of the movie title, Dargis writes the following, “A modern fairy tale about a pauper angling to become a prince, this sensory blowout largely takes place amid the squalor of Mumbai, India, where lost children and dogs sift through trash so fetid you swear you can smell the discarded mango as well as its peel, or could if the film weren’t already hurtling through another picturesque gutter” (Dargis).
The word “slumdog” becomes understood and the movie is fulfilled with the more sense. Bradshaw’s review is full of details about the movie plot, the consequences of the events, etc. However, he lacks the deeper consideration of the central themes discussed in the movie. Considering the movie from the theme of the developing world, it is possible to use Bradshaw’s review as the guide of how a person managed to get to know what he knows without having an education and why people are so suspicious about luck (Bradshaw).
One of the themes in the movie is luck and destiny. It is impossible to say that luck has nothing to do there, that it is just the destiny that each question from the movie is connected with some specific incident from Jamal’s life. This boy has never got education, one of the books he has ever read is The Three Musketeers, still, he does not know the name of the third musketeer and this is the final question on the way to Rs. 20 million.
How could a boy who has never studied manage to answer all the questions? Is that luck or destiny? The film director answers with the help of one of the characters, Latika, that it is a destiny. Still, an attentive viewer may contradict this statement adding that it is also luck, luck for a person who being restricted in everything in his life manages to win while others failed having good education, degrees, etc.
Poverty is one more problem displayed in the movie. Living in the modern civilized world, many people who live in big cities cannot even imagine that there are those who have no comfortable beds to sleep at, who wear duds, do not have shoes and eat whenever they have an opportunity. The poverty of the Indian gutters is presented to show people that in this developing world where information technologies have occupied the whole world there still places with barbaric traditions.
Poverty presented in the movie is continued by the modern slavery. Poor children are subjected to panhandling, prostitution, etc. Of course, modern civilized world is full of the similar issues, however, the way children are made to perform the task is shocking. The movie opens some curtains to the inner world of the street life which is unknown for the greater part of the audience.
Love is one more aspect discussed in the movie. The director wants to show that only those who have nothing can love in such a way. Modern people are mostly spoiled by the luxury and options they have. When it deals about love, many people choose those who are closer for them in social, financial, political, etc. aspects. Jamal is free from all those prejudice and social considerations.
He loves just because he loves and this love is the only feeling he has. He is ready to sacred hios life for the benefit of the girl he loves, Latika, and it is notable that only few people in the modern world, if any, are able to feel the same.
Slumdog Millionaire is a movie people should watch when they believe that nothing is left for them in this life, when people are in despair and do not know what to do. Jamal is a person who has absolutely nothing, however, he knows what he wants. He wants his lover to be free. Many people have forgotten how such simple thing as freedom and an opportunity to be near a person one lover is important. I liked this movie as it raised many themes which I have already mentioned. This movie made me think that we have forgotten the real value of live, which is a real disaster.
Works Cited
Bradshaw, Peter. Slumdog Millionaire. The Guardian. 2009. Web.
Dargis, Manohla. “Orphan’s lifeline out of hell could be a game show in Mumbai.” The New York Tomes. 2008. Web.
Slumdog Millionaire. Dir. Danny Boyle. London: Celador Films, Film4 Productions. 2008. DVD.