A Review of “Slumdog Millionaire”

The condition of the dogs that wander the barrios, shantytowns, and refugee camps of the world shocks most Westerners. The dogs are mangy, emaciated, and listless. Occasionally, the dogs scavenge and fight, but they don’t play and they don’t have names. The slum dogs are alone, and they mirror the destitution of the humans around them.

The brilliance of “Slumdog Millionaire” is that it takes Westerners inside the lives of  human slum dogs. As the title of Danny Boyle’s film suggests, “Slumdog Millionaire” depicts many sharp contrasts: there are slums and high rises, dumps and Five-Star Hotels, poverty and opulence, orphans and criminals. In addition, the film explores a kaleidoscope of internal responses, such as hatred and sacrifice, integrity and degradation, deception and love, to the brutal external conditions.

“Slumdog’s” cinematography is beautiful, and its storyline is touching, if not somewhat
predictable. However, what sets this film apart is its poignant social commentary.  A poor youth’s startling appearance on the Bollywood version of the game show, “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?,” serves as an ingenious device for juxtaposing the most trivial with the most tragic. As the bombastic host poses banal question after question, the young slumdog, Jamal (Dev Patel), has flashbacks that raise profound questions about the import of life. When it becomes apparent that Jamal’s motives for playing millionaire have nothing to do with fortune or fame, the film strikes a telling blow to any who would treat life as a game show.

The film’s “one in a million ending,” while decidedly upbeat, ultimately does not satisfy. There are still millions of slumdogs with names like Jamal, Latika, and Malik longing for a meal and someone to care. Garbage pickers battle vultures every day for scraps of rotting food in dumps all over the globe. Closer to home, there are thousands of refugees and immigrants in our cities picking through the litter of their broken lives hungry for meaningful relationships.

Perhaps we can hear their voices afresh in the words of a desperate mother who begged Jesus for help saying
“Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s tables."
- Matthew 15: 25-28
May the same Jesus who honored and helped this woman turn our hearts to the millions of precious “slumdogs” in our midst and everywhere.