John and I squeezed in a date last night and went to see Slumdog Millionaire. Wow. We both agreed that it was very deserving of the Oscar for Best Movie.
I do have to disagree with the snippet published in our local newspaper, which read, “You’re going to love this crowd-pleaser about a man accused of cheating on India’s ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.’” I didn’t think it was a crowd-pleaser, despite the packed movie theatre, and I didn’t love it.
Not in the normal sense of the word “love”, in any case.
I was tense throughout the entire movie, and I wept on the way home. (I know I’m pregnant! It wasn’t that.) This movie is simply hard to watch, especially the scenes of torture and extreme poverty. Sitting there on my comfortable seat, with my crunchy buttered popcorn in one hand and an icy cold Coca-Cola in the other, I just felt guilty.
Time and again, I thought of Mother Teresa, and of her love for the impoverished people of India. She’s not in the movie, mind you, but how could you not be reminded of her apostolate? This is a movie that made me count my blessings and want to do more for the poor than I have thus far. “Why them?” I wondered, time and again. “Why them and not me?”
Yet, and this is a very important yet, this is not just a movie about being poor in India. It is about the triumph of one young man over the excruciating circumstances of his past, and of the hope that he clings to…despite the odds.
Do I think you should go see this movie? Definitely.
Do I think you will be uncomfortable?
I’d hope you would be.
Rated 3 ½ stars out of 4 for violence and difficult subject matter. The music, though, gets 4 stars.
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