Film: Slumdog Millionaire

[up all night]

Slumdog was entertaining, it just didn't have any substance. It was well-packaged fluff. Not Oscar worthy, but I really don't think it was as exploitative as some people in this thread are claiming (although I can see where you're coming from.)

 

[Psychedelic Gleam]

Salman Rushdie, a true artist, commented on this film:

"British-Indian author Salman Rushdie has attacked the plot of multiple Oscar-winning film "Slumdog Millionaire" as a "patently ridiculous conceit".

Rushdie wrote in Britain's Guardian newspaper that the central feature of the film -- that a boy from the Mumbai slums manages to succeed on the Indian TV version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" -- "beggars belief."

"This is a patently ridiculous conceit, the kind of fantasy writing that gives fantasy writing a bad name," the author of "The Satanic Verses" said in the article published Saturday.

Rushdie said the central weakness of the film -- which won eight Oscars -- was that it was adapted from a book by Indian diplomat-novelist Vikas Swarup called "Q&A" which is itself "a corny potboiler, with a plot that defies belief."

"It is a plot device faithfully preserved by the film-makers, and lies at the heart of the weirdly renamed Slumdog Millionaire. As a result the film, too, beggars belief," wrote Rushdie, who was born in Mumbai.

Rushdie signed off a long lament about the quality of film adaptations of books by saying: "We can only hope that the worst is over, and that better movies, better musicals and better times lie ahead."

The author last month marked the 20th anniversary of the Islamic death sentence imposed on him by Iran following the publication of "The Satanic Verses". "

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.72d8443178d81efb91dfe7eed836b682.6c1&show_article=1

He is, as far as I am concerned, dead on.

 

[alasdairm]

some of my favourite movies defy belief. if i limited my movie watching only to movies which are believable, i would have missed out on some great movies.

alasdair

 

[GoddessLSD-XTC]

Of course the movie was a fantasy do all fantasies have to be as meaningless or fantastic as Star Wars & Lord of the Rings? Rushdie's book was fantasy too.

 

[Max Power]

<---- Slumdog hundredaire.

 

[TheDeceased]

Of course the movie was a fantasy do all fantasies have to be as meaningless or fantastic as Star Wars & Lord of the Rings?

The problem with this particular film being an absurd fantasy as far as I can see it is the fact that it's about an area of the world plagued by extreme poverty and it is misrepresenting that. It is also not (like for example, the Fisher King) obviously a work of fantasy to everyone that watches it. People (including numerous posters in this thread) have taken it to be a somewhat accurate representation of the poverty in Mumbai and the political/ religious conflicts that exist in that environment, which it is not. I would argue that Slumdog is far more meaningless than Lord of the Rings (strange example really) and perhaps also Star Wars.

Are there any Indian people or people of Indian ancestory that like the film? Is there anyone who has ever been to Mumbai who likes the film? I know a lot of people who visit regularly (in fact, my mother in law is there now) and their opinion of the film is very consistent and not too flattering.

^These aren't rhetorical questions. I'd really like to know.

 

[AmorRoark]

^ I agree that LOTR is an extremely strange example. I haven't seen Slumdog yet so I have nothing else to add other than that.

 

[JoeTheStoner]

Bolllywood fever reaches the workplace.

 

[TheSpade]

Of course the movie was a fantasy

Strange because I'm confident you were arguing the opposite earlier and talking of how the other of this years cinema releases which I recommended / thought were better than Slumdog were all fantasty and Slumdog was reality. Something along those lines.

 

[Cornishman]

"Cumdog billionaire" - A horney young springer spaniel wins billions somehow, by doing something or other.....

 

[chopped_chimp]

Are there any Indian people or people of Indian ancestory that like the film? Is there anyone who has ever been to Mumbai who likes the film? I know a lot of people who visit regularly (in fact, my mother in law is there now) and their opinion of the film is very consistent and not too flattering.

^These aren't rhetorical questions. I'd really like to know.

Having grown up up in a small, one-movie-hall town in western part of
India, movies, and in particular Bollywood movies, have been a big
part of my early life. Those movies are now a part of the memory that
is reserved by Indian expatriates to miss and despise alternatively.
......
......
.......
......
......
But Danny Boyle, god bless him, has been successful in making a movie
about India that does not feel condescending. A story with India as a
character but without the funny accents, or westerners discovering
themselves, or any crap about "elders of the gentle race." It is
actually a film that an Indian can appreciate more than the average
western viewer: the subtitles don't let Anglophones in on the
cusswords.

I posted this guys full review here:

http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/showpost.php?p=6876837&postcount=106

 

[mariacallas]

^I really liked that review chopped chimp thanks for sharing.

 

[TheDeceased]

Yeah, thanks. It's interesting to see a positive Indian reaction to the film. Frankly, I didn't think there was any. I stand corrected.

 

[Psychedelic Gleam]

some of my favourite movies defy belief. if i limited my movie watching only to movies which are believable, i would have missed out on some great movies.

alasdair

Actually I find believability to be key. Realism on the other hand is unimportant but creating a world that is believable and characters that are believable is essential to an empathetic response on my part. The fantastic that fails to be believeable only reminds the viewer that the film is a movie on a screen rather than a new reality (the feeling I get when good films suck me in).

I find that I can buy into something fantastic as long as there is evocative artistry and empathetic potential within the work. Believability emerges from characters and a world that transcends the mundane without feeling contrived. I found it to be all too obvious that I was watching a movie throughout, I didn't buy into the fantasy, I couldn't "believe" in the movie because I felt that Boyle failed to make me forget I was watching a film. Every belief defying moment, rather than sucking me into the magic, pushed me out of the story and into my seat. I felt that he missed the epic encompassing grandeur of most Bollywood films that sweep you along and into a world of dramatic beauty and romance. It was uncomfortably between belief defying and attempted realism thus preventing true immersion for me as a viewer.

 

[Benefit]

I thought The Darjeeling Limited did a better job of potraying India without overdoing the slummy slum slum angle in a play for heartstrings.

Liked the movie, think the hype has been a bit much. First half was better than second half by far, loved the child actors great performances and the puppy love made me feel weird in my inside place. There is a definite discontinuity between the young kids and their older versions that is kind of distracting. Freida Pinto's hot. Movie gets really silly toward the end -not the dancing, obvious Bollywood shout out- but the idea that a game show host has his contestant attacked with a burlap sack when the show goes to commercial break was pretty goofy. Can you imagine Regis doing that? I guess maybe.... Anyway, I forgive them.

Thing that bugs me is the movie feels like it was made by Westerners for Westerners so they can pat themselves on the back and feel good about making cultural inraods into an exotic land without doing the legwork; then they can forget about it just as easily. In and out, and you get a nice tear jerker thrown into the deal with a feel good happy ending. What's not to love about that if you're a middle class Westerner? You can see why it's popular. I had a very similar criticism of Blood Diamond. The movie isn't very popular in India. Make of that what you will.

 

[Belisarius]

I loved it. Rare indeed is the romance that I've liked--really liked--and this bucks the trend because it's so much more. Can't speak for others, but I thought it was a feel-good flick with intriguing characters. Wonderful stuff.

Five stars.

 

[daysonatrain]

^^agreed, first half was much better than the second.
"I thought The Darjeeling Limited did a better job of potraying India without overdoing the slummy slum slum angle in a play for heartstrings"
ive been to india and the slums are a reality, i mean like totally crazy, and i dont think they overdid that angle.

anyway, great film, i gave it 4 stars just cause i thought the second half could have been better, but still one of the best films in years.

 

[smotpoker]

Wow I must this movie was definitely NOT the best picture of the year. I gave it two stars, but that's only because I like to round up and 1 1/2 stars isn't an option.

This was unarguably, one of the 5 worst movies I saw that was released in 2008. I don't understand what all the hype is about for this movie. So the guy wins money on a gameshow and had a rough life growing up. Wow. Interesting. Not.

This just further proves that the Oscars are a waste of time... I can't believe I wasted my time and $3.00 on this DVD rental.

 

[chopped_chimp]

$3? what a rip. I purchased a genuine copy in Bali for 50c.

 

[TheDeceased]

^Still a waste of money IMO.