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Author
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Topic: Slumdog Millionaire
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Heart--Shaped Cross
unregistered
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posted February 27, 2009 12:39 PM
 
Well said, venus.  IP: Logged |
sunshine_lion
unregistered
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posted February 27, 2009 12:46 PM
how can you compare a starving child with a fat american kid in front of the boob tube? the difference is one child is hungry. big business this begging. big multi million dollar buisness. maiming children so they can be good beggars, well, it is standard business practice and that is ok with you? come on. don't you see that could have been you or i born into that? we lucked out. dont you see that? could have been you, could have been me. ok venus, if you say it is povery porn,then you are entitled to believe that. glamourizing a poverty ridden unsafe scary place is just non-sense. IP: Logged |
sunshine_lion
unregistered
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posted February 27, 2009 12:48 PM
I have never seen you in a position of ambiguous empathyinteresting you chose to use those words IP: Logged |
blue moon
Knowflake Posts: 1344
From: U.K
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted February 27, 2009 12:55 PM
Danny Boyle is from Manchester, he's not Scottish at all. Sorry, carry on. IP: Logged |
bunnies
Knowflake Posts: 477
From: u.k
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted February 27, 2009 01:13 PM
I think the thing that upset me most about the movie is that it couldn't decide what it wanted to be.
It showed you the sadness and hopelessness of the boys life in a graphic way not just the torture and the deprivation but in the humiliation heaped on him for him being a tea boy (Chai wallah)
Like it was something demeaning.
And then lo and behold he wins a load of money and there is a fabulous Bollywood dance routine thrown in at the end.
I feel if he (Danny Boyle ) wanted to be so flippant he should have been flippant all the way through and steered clear of graphics OR showed the truth and not done a flippin' show number at the end.
But that's just me.
I thought the performances were amazing but it just made me sad sad sad at the way we treat one another.
It reminds me of another documentary I once saw about a boy in India who was a slum dweller and worked as a rat catcher in the city.
And no one ever talked to him...ever.
He lived alone worked alone and travelled to work every day alone.
No one gave him a smidgin of human kindness.
He just existed.
I was bereft for months after watching that.
Maybe that's why this film upset me so.IP: Logged |
Heart--Shaped Cross
unregistered
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posted February 27, 2009 03:51 PM
bunnies,
The show number at the end was over the credits.. It was intentionally disconnected from the rest of the film and was an homage to the Bollywood films with those numbers in them. Often in those films the song and dance routine was equally irrelevant, and yet it was worked into the actual film, like an intermission in the plot. So, I understood that and thought it was just cute and celebrational. The rest of the film seems pretty sure of itself to me, and sure of what it is expressing; life. If we the viewers are left trying to reconcile all these different themes and images, well, thats life! And I'm happy to find a film that doesnt streamline life into a particular theme, genre, or cliche. The ups are there.. the downs are also there. People seem to be complaining that neither is missing, lol. Is it that people want their thinking done for them? Have we become too lazy and accustomed to plots that go from point "A" to "B" to "C", that we cannot appreciate the complexity and nuances of a film that wanders, as life wanders, traversing all levels of society, and offering a vision of the world which is not black or white, but grey? I like that this movie can't decide what to be, or, rather, that it rejects the assumption that such a decision must be made. This openness is exactly why this movie has everything, and why it so powerfully reflects life as a whole. And the film doesnt have to necessarily be saying anything about all the slums or "slumdogs", or about romance, or devotion to an ideal, or destiny. It picks up on all these themes, but, still, it just says what it says. It tells one person's story, and, as far as I can tell, is not intended as a parable of India's history or any other such high-flown nonsense which critics and viewers want to project onto it. It's just life. He could have lost.. but he won. He could have won by knowing, by luck, by destiny.. but it had to be one of these, and whichever one it was, the critics would make it an issue. In the end, it is a movie.. he wins, he gets the girl and the money to take them out of the slums. This movie says things, yes.. it says lots of things, but it is not about saying one or two things. It talks about underestimating people... it talks about streetsmarts and how knowledge can be arrived at through living, rather than reading books... it talks about poverty, both material and spiritual (incidentally, venus de india's comparison of the material poverty of "slumdogs" to the spiritual poverty of children in America is not the least bit out of line),... it talks about love... the power of devotion to an ideal, and the power of love as an ideal... it talks about courage in following conscience (his brother, at the end)... and resignation versus ambition... all of these. It's not a simple morality play. And while that may frustrate some people, its part of what makes the film great, in my opinion. If you found the film upsetting because of its depiction of poverty, thats great! Many people dont think about it, and so, when a film like this comes along it comes as a disturbing revelation. But its just life. Sure, it has a happy ending for the two main characters.. but there are no lack of people who didnt make it. Remember the boy who was blinded, and what he said about it later, "[There is no difference between us, but you were lucky.]" Something like that. So, I guess you could look at that and say that your friend the ratcatcher was not entirely forgotten. He was just unlucky. 
IP: Logged |
bunnies
Knowflake Posts: 477
From: u.k
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted February 27, 2009 07:18 PM
I wasn't trying to make anyone view the film a different way, just saying how it made me feel.
And on that note regarding "lucking out", is life just a series of random events HSC without rhyme or reason? Discuss!
Maybe that's what it made me feel. I could feel my faith in a benevolent anything slipping away.
Maybe some of us are just born lucky and there is no purpose behind it.
I wish I'd gone to see the "Curious case of Benjamin Button instead!IP: Logged |
Heart--Shaped Cross
unregistered
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posted February 28, 2009 12:07 AM
lol I hear you. But I also think those are the questions that spiritually awakened people begin to ask when they enter the dark night of the soul. I think there is definitely some benefit in seeing the world that way for a little while. Its also fine to think of the world resting gently in the cradle of God's hands. But I think sometimes it is good to reflect on the fragility and precariousness of life, health, and happiness. We are all lucky to be healthy and relatively comfortable right now, yes? Even if it isnt luck, it is good to imagine that it is, from time to time. This is why it is sad when someone with so much promise dies at an early age. We think of all that he or she might have accomplished. Meanwhile, plenty of morally weak people live long, complacent lives. Reflecting on this stuff may be a bummer, but it helps us appreciate the gifts and blessings that we do have, and to feel compassion for others who were, perhaps, not so lucky, and didnt get the breaks in life that we did. From intelligence and common sense to resourcefulness and initiative.. who knows what is given to us. I think it is worth reflecting, at times, that maybe everything we have was given to us; maybe even the "free" will to make the best of what was given to us was also given to us. Maybe the world is full of people who dont have that freedom, and who are constrained by internal, psychologial barriers, as well as external, environmental ones. People who feel like they have no control and are always answering to some power greater than themselves. Imagine feeling like a spec of dust... And yet, if it really is just random accidents, and everything might be dashed to pieces at any minute, then how much more amazing and miraculous is this moment?!!? That anything at all exists and can exist for a while is miraculous and precious! And the fact that sometimes the choice and the power to save or change a person's life really is in our hands (not God's, but ours), is mind-blowing. When people come face to face with the reality of suffering in this world, they cannot stay the same. Its not like watching Benjamin Button, and then going on with our lives. You see suffering and something happens. Either you close up even tighter, and block out the world, or, your compassion is awakened, and you want to help. Like a Pisces, you feel the pain of others, and you have to respond. Thats why films like this shake us to the core. Because they trigger the internal battle between good and evil; they awaken the part of us that wants to be a saint, and all the powers of hell align to lay him back to rest. "Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.” ~ Winston Churchill
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venusdeindia
unregistered
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posted February 28, 2009 01:57 AM
quote:
big business this begging. big multi million dollar buisness. maiming children so they can be good beggars, well, it is standard business practice and that is ok with you? come on. don't you see that could have been you or i born into that? we lucked out. dont you see that? could have been you, could have been me
I did NOT say that  I meant we do not know all the dynamics involved - neither did the movie go any further. I was actually making a point that a Pulitzer winning Journalist who made a documentary on the topic said - we didnt see her work but we saw a fictional film and think we know the facts. quote:
if you say it is povery porn,then you are entitled to believe that.
I never said - i said i was torn about it being spoken that way. IP: Logged |
sunshine_lion
unregistered
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posted February 28, 2009 08:07 AM
it ok venus, after reading hsc postings i can see what you meant. he needs to be my personal advisor as i alsways get a new perspective when reading what he writes.
try to remember that hsc, and know you are appreciated for your great mind.IP: Logged |
Heart--Shaped Cross
unregistered
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posted February 28, 2009 12:12 PM
Thank you, sunshine lion, that's very sweet of you to say. IP: Logged |
venusdeindia
unregistered
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posted March 03, 2009 07:15 AM
A briton who saw the film and has worked for child welfare wrote to out Prime minister in protest.He minced no words in expressing his disgust - and it worked !!!The state administration has been warned with dire consequences to clean its act and get results in checking child begging gangs..  Any of you guys -you can send emails too to our President - who is a lady as well to our Prime minister !!! IP: Logged |
AceNeerav
Newflake Posts: 0
From: India
Registered: Oct 2009
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posted March 13, 2009 06:25 PM
i think Tare Zameen Par was anytime a better movie than slumdog millionaire but they didnt even nominate it for the oscars. slumdog is a good movie but i dont know why there is such an uproar about it! everyone here in mumbai is saying the same thing. why is slumdog getting so much attention afterall. one thought could be that since we in mumbai see this happening on a daily basis where is people elsewhere in the world dont know about it so they find it touching. i have known since i was 5 that if a child gets stolen or lost then these guys make them handicap and make them beg for money. i see such children each day at traffic signals while going to work. and it pains me a lot that i can do nothing about it. a sense of grief and shame overpowers me. it happens to most of us here. eventually we start living in a state of denial. in this racket of making children handicap more people are involved then just the slum dwellers. it includes politicians and policemen too who know everything but keep quite for their regular bribes and votes. IP: Logged |
charmainec
Moderator Posts: 7210
From: Venus next to Randall
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted June 20, 2012 06:55 AM
One of my absolute favorite movies.  Highly recommend it to those who have not seen it yet. ------------------
quote:
Remember, love can conquer the influences of the planets....It can even eliminate karma.
Linda GoodmanIP: Logged |
charmainec
Moderator Posts: 7210
From: Venus next to Randall
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted June 21, 2012 08:11 AM
Watch it!------------------
quote:
Remember, love can conquer the influences of the planets....It can even eliminate karma.
Linda GoodmanIP: Logged |
Randall
Webmaster Posts: 32140
From: Saturn next to Charmainec
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted June 21, 2012 02:44 PM
Don't tell me what to do!  ------------------
"Never mentally imagine for another that which you would not want to experience for yourself, since the mental image you send out inevitably comes back to you." Rebecca Clark IP: Logged |
charmainec
Moderator Posts: 7210
From: Venus next to Randall
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted June 22, 2012 04:50 AM
 Knew you would say that. :P
------------------
quote:
Remember, love can conquer the influences of the planets....It can even eliminate karma.
Linda GoodmanIP: Logged |
Randall
Webmaster Posts: 32140
From: Saturn next to Charmainec
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted June 23, 2012 01:57 PM
Psychic!  ------------------
"Never mentally imagine for another that which you would not want to experience for yourself, since the mental image you send out inevitably comes back to you." Rebecca Clark IP: Logged |
Randall
Webmaster Posts: 32140
From: Saturn next to Charmainec
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted June 24, 2012 01:23 PM
I'm getting predictable?  ------------------
"Never mentally imagine for another that which you would not want to experience for yourself, since the mental image you send out inevitably comes back to you." Rebecca Clark IP: Logged |
charmainec
Moderator Posts: 7210
From: Venus next to Randall
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted June 24, 2012 02:34 PM
The usual response when telling you what to do. ------------------
quote:
Remember, love can conquer the influences of the planets....It can even eliminate karma.
Linda GoodmanIP: Logged |
charmainec
Moderator Posts: 7210
From: Venus next to Randall
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted June 26, 2012 05:51 AM
Waaaaatch it!------------------
quote:
Remember, love can conquer the influences of the planets....It can even eliminate karma.
Linda GoodmanIP: Logged |
Randall
Webmaster Posts: 32140
From: Saturn next to Charmainec
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted June 27, 2012 09:44 AM
Okaaaaaay!------------------
"Never mentally imagine for another that which you would not want to experience for yourself, since the mental image you send out inevitably comes back to you." Rebecca Clark IP: Logged |
charmainec
Moderator Posts: 7210
From: Venus next to Randall
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted June 28, 2012 09:24 AM
Weeeeee!  ------------------
quote:
Remember, love can conquer the influences of the planets....It can even eliminate karma.
Linda GoodmanIP: Logged |
Randall
Webmaster Posts: 32140
From: Saturn next to Charmainec
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted June 30, 2012 10:40 AM
Win! MARCO!------------------
"Never mentally imagine for another that which you would not want to experience for yourself, since the mental image you send out inevitably comes back to you." Rebecca Clark IP: Logged |
Randall
Webmaster Posts: 32140
From: Saturn next to Charmainec
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted July 01, 2012 11:35 AM
The dancer style attributed to the movie is Bali.------------------
"Never mentally imagine for another that which you would not want to experience for yourself, since the mental image you send out inevitably comes back to you." Rebecca Clark IP: Logged |
Lindaland
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