Movie lovers team (Feb 09) - Slumdog Millionaire

What I would like to share after watching Slumdog Millionaire,

This movie vividly depicted the life of slum children in developing countries. Besides, it showed the extreme of religion beliefs; systemic and inhuman use of children labor, social inequality and injustice, etc. What in short is that how development created opportunities as well as different social problems in parallel.

I remembered clearly many scenes of this movie. If I have to choose one scene that is the most touching, I will pick the one when Jamal Malik gave US$100 to his former friend, whose eyes had been taken away by the guardian previously, in the tunnel. Several feelings incidentally blinked in my mind,

How cold blooded the guardian was, he did it so systemically and without any guilty. He only used several minutes to ruin the sight, the trust and the dream of the children, damaging the children’s physical and mental health permanently. Does the extra money earned really more important than the children’s future? And can you see how vulnerable and helpless the children were? Even though you know it was him who hurt you so much and only treat you as a tool for earning, you still need to work for them for life.

Meanwhile Jamal was the one who escaped from the guardian and work hard by himself for living. This scene has a very clear contrast when the two actors confronted. And I start to agree this sentence, “what you are now may depend on your luck, but depend more on what you have done”. Jamal may be unlucky as he can sing well and being picked up by the guardian. But if he did not struggle to escape and work hard, he may end up worse than the boy that he was facing in that scene.


I also have deep impression of Jamal’s brother, who loved Jamal so much but sometimes commit crimes and hurt Jamal unintentionally even though he knew those were sinful. Indeed, it is difficult to live in the real world with everything satisfying your will. We need to know how to scarify and compromise. But in critical situations, you will know who is good and who is bad, just like Jamal’s brother. After all, the reason behind why people commit crime is just for living, if not to satisfy their illimitable desires.

It is good that more people concern with the slumdogs nowadays after watching this movie. Recent news also reported the post filming life of the little actors and actress. In fact their lives are exactly like themselves in the movie, becoming rich and famous in one night from slumdogs. Many people want to give them a new life, opportunities to go to school, play in Disneyland, travel around etc. So how about the other children who are also living in slum areas in India? How about those in other developing countries? Will they also benefit from the “Slumdog Millionaire effect”?



I just hope people will still remember there are children suffering in the other side of the world everyday after this tidal. You know virtually no one remember what had happened in Sichuan now.