Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire

“The Feel – Good Film of the Decade”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/24/oscars-india-slumdog-millionaire-ian-jack

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/jan/18/slumdog-millionaire-british-asian-reaction

Slumdog Millionaire shows two different sides to India. Danny Boyle has tried to portray India’s progress as a country by showing the development of the city Mumbai within the film. The development is really clear as at the start of the film there were only scenes from the slums which signify poverty. This is the reality as the growing Indian economy suggests that the country is progressing.

In the film the characters are represented as normal working class Indians. The film puts forward motivational values as an ordinary teenager from the slums wins a large sum of money. The main character ‘Jamal’ a working class teenager challenges the stereotype of ‘The Other’.

The first representation which is noticed by the audience is that the country is corrupt, because of what the characters do in the film. There is a gang of ‘villains’ that do bad things to the small innocent children, for instance a scene is shown where the main villain makes a young boy unconscious and puts hot wax in his eyes to make him blind, and makes him beg for money which goes to him. Boyle depicts Indian people here as cruel and untrustworthy.