The following is a review on the movie "Slumdog Millionaire" I turned in for a class called "Bible and Film." Enjoy! ---
I was blown away by this motion picture. This was the best film I’ve seen in 11 years (since Titanic). The last scene spoke volumes to me. Salim was surrounded by everything he cared about in life: money, represented by a bathtub full of cash, and power, represented by his gun; while his brother Jamal was surrounded by everything important to him in life: love. Ironically Jamal was showered literally by confetti and figuratively by cash as his brother was shot to death in the bathtub full of bills. One’s life was just beginning, so to speak, as the other’s was tragically ending.
Before one quickly dismisses Salim as the “evil brother” of the two, because he chose to enter the gangster’s life of empty power, sexual cravings, and cash, you have to consider Salim’s martyrdom in the end to finally deliver Latika safely to his brother. Yes, he pulled a gun on people to threaten them and even pulled the trigger and took life. But one could argue without flashing the cold steel in the face of the first mob boss, the disfigured henchman surely would have had his revenge on the children. Likewise, had Salim not shot the second mob boss in the end, viewers would have left the theater with knots in our stomachs, wondering if the evil man would someday chase down Latika and Jamal and put an end to their storybook life together which was just beginning as the credits rolled.
Okay, so Salim blocked the door of the outhouse that sent the virtuous Jamal into a fecal bath, and yes, Salim also turned around and sold his brother’s prized possession for a few coins. But didn’t the same boy also deliver his little brother from being blinded for life? Is it Salim’s fault that God didn’t gift him with the voice of a songbird, hence making him into the henchmen’s “dog,” as the mob boss put it? Isn’t that what started him down the road to the life of crime? Perhaps it was due to original sin in him from birth displayed at times in his early years the film.
Conversely, before we crown Jamal with complete sainthood, let us consider that he stole food and conned tourists out of shoes and cash many times throughout his life as well. He was a knowing accomplice (getting lowered by rope from the roof of the train) and sometimes an unknowing accomplice (the tourist’s car that got raided) throughout. Yes, it turns out he was telling the truth to the police officers who mercilessly beat him, he gave away a $100 bill to the blind boy, outwitted the crooked game show host, watched his mother get beaten to death, and watched the love of his life whom he mercifully took in out of the rain slip through his fingers not once, but three times. In fact, his brother was directly responsible for two of those separations. Okay, and Jamal supposedly went on the game show not out of greed, but merely to draw the eye of his long lost love. With all that said, it’s the bruised and battered characters like Jamal in the bruised and battered country of India that draws us in.
One is hit over the head by the financial disparity of the upper class and the sprawling slums without running water or sanitation. A quiet and steady current of religious differences between the victimized, impoverished Muslims, the attacking majority Hindus, and affluent Americans (here is $100 beat up little Jamal because “this is how we do things in America”) runs beneath the surface of the picture. Gandhi is pictured on the bills, another religious figure is present in the raids; even Salim rolled out his mat and prayed for forgiveness before going to commit more evil on his society.
Slumdog Millionaire is a runaway hit and is a film every human being should see. It makes me miss my champion of a friend for Jesus Christ in India, Manorama Ekka. It’s a gruesome reminder of the mountains of social justice to be done in the world, specifically with sexually and financially exploited children, gang violence, financial disparity, and religious intolerance. At the same time, it is a uplifting, rags-to-riches tale, where in the end the boy gets the girl as his painfully loyal brother whispers his dying, selfless words to the audience, “God is so good.”
The very talented people of First Lutheran absolutely "blew the roof off the joint" with their musical talents all day long Sunday! There were choirs, an orchestra, and kids singing their hearts out for the Lord. The best part? We caught every minute of it on tape! A simple idea kicked around in early December by FLC's newly formed "New Media Dream Team" quickly became a reality thanks to the hard work of Justin Schaefer, Shannon Hauerwas, Mark Scheibe, Drew Schaefer, and others.
