Slumdog Millionare Review

I encouraged you to go see Slumdog Millionare and I finally took my own advice this Saturday, and I was glad I did.

I don't really feel qualified to write movie reviews, but I figure I can at least let you know how it hit me. You can do with that what you will:

My first reaction was "Whoa! They took you right into the nasty underbelly of India and didn't sugar coat it". They set up cameras in places that must have been nightmares to get to. There were scenes in the move where the main character is being shown as a child, no more than 5, sleeping in a garbage dump. Flies and all. They're not showing you this to win sympathy or to demonize any particular group, its just presented as life for these people, like they were sitting in front of a TV or something. I appreciated that.

I was also struck by the beauty of the people. Its a culture that, as an American, I don't get to see much of. I loved how the actors were young talented and beautiful, and I had never seen any of them before. It helped me remember that the world is a lot bigger than my drive to work.

The story wasn't particularly clever, although it was a different way to have an excuse to tell a story, so I guess it was effective. I never found myself wandering, it kept me curious the whole time.

All in all, a great 2 hours of entertainment. Its different enough from your typical movie that you may even feel like you grew in some small way for having seen it.