Slumdog Millionaire

This movie review contains no significant plot spoilers.

You might have heard the name of this independent floating around. Fox Searchlight picked it up for circulation and people are taking notice. Honestly, their attention surprises me. Part of me feels like people going a little too out of their way to recognize independent films. The Golden Globes have already nominated it for Best Picture. This may sound a little bourgeois, but for this movie to be getting that kind of attention next to a movie like The Dark Knight, is stretching it a bit.

It is for its part, Slumdog Millionaire is a good movie. It is entertaining and that is always issue number one for me. It draws attention to important issue like the exploitation and purposeful mutilation of children in Mumbai’s slums, which may explain the attention its getting but we have seen these kinds of themes before. Personally, I find it remarkable because this movie, with so much sadness has a happy ending.

It is not remarkable that the happy ending exists, but rather that people are still giving it respect. (It seem that the award shows hate movies with happy ending lately.) The message of someone overcoming overwhelming odds is always more valuable than watching someone fail, but of late critics seem to have forgotten that. This could be the turn around. So why am I upset that this is the movie getting the recognition?

I feel like this movie is being chosen almost exclusively to make a point. While it is a perfectly good movie, the staging and editing are below the level required to take it to a great movie. Yet, that is what this is being hailed as; not only a great movie even, but the best movie. A matter of taste I suppose, but if you are looking to see this movie for yourself I’d recommend waiting until it comes onto cable. Despite the hype, you should save your ticket cost.