Todorojo-1

The outrage surrounding this picture is again created by people who, though they have every right to their strong opinions, simply cannot grasp the truth behind the meaning. If you haven't lived a chunk of the many lives beautifully portrayed in this tight little film, its going to miss your exit and take you into unfamiliar territory. Many, if not most people go to the movies for the simple entertainment value, where as others go in order to seek out something familiar and often painful within themselves. The former movie goer is eager to see something where there are good guys and bad guys and despite seemingly insurmountable odds, the good guy prevails at the last moment, creating a perfect circle of meaning and the ultimate satisfaction that good triumphs over evil; a happy little package with a perfectly tied bow. The latter film-goer however, comes in with the understanding that life, or at least a brief glimpse into people's lives, is a linear event, often not turning out in happy endings or even providing endings at all. It is with this understanding that the viewing of this film must be undertaken. Prepare yourself to initially misunderstand or even hate a character and then suddenly kick yourself for having been so short sighted. Like the real lives that people live every day, this film either runs through your neighborhood or is just another unfamiliar place that you never would have known to exist.

The funny thing about this picture is the number of people, especially industry people who came out of the woodwork to hate it. Who cares if the ensemble cast is fantastic? Who cares if the script is riveting and bloody raw with a certain truth? Who cares if it was carefully written and directed by someone with only two features under his belt? The fact is that you either understand this story or you don't. Many of us come from families torn asunder by the bits and pieces of scrap metal sucked into the engines of our childhood and thusly causing a fiery crash of sorts as adults. many of us try to hate parents who phoned in their responsibilities or never bothered to make the call at all. From the perspective of someone in the position to forgive or to ask some sort of forgiveness from friends, family or complete strangers, this film drives one straight down the fairway. There are parts of each of us in the characters portrayed here and they are each at once worthy of both pity and scorn. It seems that the rift this film creates is that those who dislike it, may not have lived within the coincidences it poses. Where as with those of us who did like the film, loved it and saw within it the reflections of our own stories which cause it to be true and painful and as solid as bone.

Is there anyone else that this self-serving schlock missed so badly with? It seems obvious to me that Mr. Boyle, having missed every time with western audiences thought that he could cash in with the Bollywood crowd and score himself some Rupees for his overdue retirement party. To make such an unrealistic, manipulative film and simply label it a "fairy tale" is an insult to every well-written fairy tale ever penned and to use (and I emphasize the word "use") the residents of these slums in such a manner that undermines their abject poverty is boo worthy. Danny Boyle should be booed for having tried to manipulate so many people's emotions with such flaccid trash. Stop bandwagoning this miserable piece of sub-art, Slumdog apologists and cultivate yourself an objective opinion. The emperor is wearing no clothes, ladies and gentlemen and his name is Danny Boyle.