Slumdog Millionaire

The newly Oscar Winning movie, "Slumdog Millionaire" has raked in well over $125 million in the United States alone, since its November 12th release. I saw the movie personally and thought that it was very well done, in terms of acting, cinematography, and writing. The film follows the story of Jamal Malik, played by first-time silver screen actor Dev Patel. Jamal is a contestant on the Indian version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" and essentially the film is a visual representation of the significant events in his life thus far. Each question that he is asked sparks a different memory of his childhood and young adult life. 

Jamal, an 18 year old orphan from Mumbai, is playing to win a possible 20 million rupees, as the entire nation spectates from their televisions. The basic premise of the movie is that the Mumbai police are under the impression Jamal has cheated and they are interrogating him to find out the truth. As they watch a video tape of the show, he tells the story of each of his life experiences behind the questions he answered correctly one by one. The film depicts vivid retellings of Jamal's childhood, from witnessing his own mother's murder, to harrowing recollections of mistreatment by local gangs, to finding true love. 

There are many children that can be seen in the film, which was actually filmed in India (Agra, Uttar Pradesh and Mumbai, Maharashtra.) According to some reports, these kids have been compensated by some sort of a trust fund, and a promise of a regular education, with another payment after the completion of school at the age of 18. The children were flown out to the United States for the Oscars ceremony and a complimentary trip to Disneyland, but were then flown back to home to India. It is unfortunate though, that after helping to tell the story of such poverty and poor quality of life, these children are expected to get a little taste of "The American Dream" and then fly back home to the heart breaking conditions depicted in the film.

This is not the case for all of these children however; Azharuddin Mohammed (age 10), and Rubiana Ali (age 9) who appeared in the movie have each been given an apartment to live in with their families, courtesy of the state housing association. Some may think that these kids' lives will be totally different now, but this is really not the case; Rubiana's mother had left for five years, and suddenly returned one day after the movie to try to forcefully take Rubiana from her father. Azharuddin's mother has to live with only one eye, and his father has tuberculosis.

This is not to say that Fox Searchlight or any other company is to blame for these living conditions, but it raises a lot of ethical questions.

Why is it that we don't think twice to make a movie with a production budget of $15 million that reveals the true lives and hardships of human beings, young and old, who live in extreme poverty and just get by one meal at a time, but then continue to accept it? "If you're not part of the solution then you're part of the problem." This film is still earning more money every day, and as of yesterday its total domestic gross was $125,441,000. That kind of money could change so many lives of the people of the country of India, and even our own, but the majority of it is going to major corporations and businesses that already have more money than they need.