Film Enrichment; Slumdog Millionaire.

Question 1a

What perspective of life in India does this film offer? Consider the locations as a starting point.

The film shows India from a poorer perspective, it shows us that India has a very distinctive culture with the way in which they dress, the ways in which people behave and the things they do to survive in their daily lives such as washing clothes in dirty river water, young children looking in dumps for food and things to sell for money and homeless orphaned children fending for themselves on the streets. 'Slumdog Millionaire' was filmed in a Mumbai slum, later moving to the part of India which is considered better off further into the movie and showing some famous indian landmarks. The movie shows us that children have to grow up quicker then expected within developed countries. Family seems like a strong moral ground in which the people of India live by, people would do anything to protect and keep their family with them, this is displayed through Jamel and Salim's relationship.
We can see that the tourists are much more sensitive to the way in which the men within the slum treat the children, they don't approve of the way in which they are abused and victimised whereas the people who live and have been brought up in the slums don't seem to see what they are doing and the way people are treated within their culture as, they don't see such treatment as degrading.

Question 1b
Think about the function of those scenes? Do they back up your initial thought of India before watching the movie?

There are aspects of the movie that back up my initial thoughts and opinions of India, the evidence of the slums and orphaned children back up my thoughts. However the family loyalty and the way in which the children are forced to grow up and mature so fast challenges my initial stereotype, I had a negative stereotype in my mind saying that everyone who was born and raised within the slums lived by a 'every man for himself' moral value'. The presence of the westernised house with the big iron gates and plasma screen tv also challenges my idea of the way in which the people of India live. The fact that Jamel is on who wants to be a millionaire also challenges the stereotype I personally had of India, who wants to be a millionaire is a very westernised game show which I wouldn't expect India to have adopted into their culture.

Question 2

Do you agree with these views? What evidence can you use to support your response?

Yes, people believe that India is a place where slums a poverty have taken over every inch of India, whereas this is a bad stereotype as every city in the world has bad and good places, if you take London for example, there are bad parts of London where crime cripples communities and poverty grips families,  but there is also uptown London which is home to million dollar houses and historic buildings and landmarks such as Big Ben. We can see from the movie that there are richer parts of India involving brand new sky rise buildings and nice big westernised houses including flat screen TV's and big iron gates. This challenges people's negative stereotypes surrounding India. The presence of the big high rise buildings also enforce a very westernised approach to India, as high rise buildings tend to be in places such as the USA or the UK

Question 3
Boyle talks here about the film being considered shocking because of its truthfulness. Think about how the realism in the film contrasts with more fairy tale aspects of the narrative. How well do you think these approaches fit together?

The slums represent the harsh reality of India, they show the conditions in which young children are families are forced to live, needing to rummage through rubbish to find food to eat or scrapes to sell in the sweltering heat. It's everyone's dream to escape the slums and make something of themselves. We are shown that the 'gangsters' and the crooks are the ones living the high life with the nice cars, mobile phones, beautiful girlfriends and lots of money, this shows us that people are prepared to turn to crime or dodge dealings to try and rise from the slums and lead a comfortable life in which everyone dreams. The host of who wants to be a millionaire, the show is which Jamel is competing also talks about his experiences in the movie, he tells Jamel that he to is from the Mumbai slums and is the only man from the slums to go from having nothing to being a millionaire overnight. This shows us that not everyone turns to crime such as robbery and ripping off tourists to earn a living.