So now that Slumdog Millionaire has been nominated for Best Picture I can really ask this question:
Did anyone else think it was a horribly manipulative movie?



The premise: a young muslim kid from Mumbai’s roughest slums (the “slumdog”) somehow finds himself on the Indian version of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” There actually is an Indian version of the originally British show, btw, as well as Spanish, Australian, Arabic, Bulgarian, French, Greek, Israeli, Indonesian, Italian, New Zealand, Serbian and Turkish versions (talk about exportation of western culture!) I was wondering why “Millionaire” would allow this movie to use its brand in such a dark light, but of course, in this postmodern world, all advertising is positive.

It quickly becomes clear that the host of the Indian Millionaire has more in common with the murderous game show host of Arnold Schwarzenneger’s  “The Running Man” than with Regis Philbin (unless Regis had the NYPD torture guests who did too well on his show in between appearances).
The premise of the movie is certainly interesting, and structurally well-conceived, as we learn why the kid is doing so well on the show. Each answer to each question he should not know the answer to refers us back to another chapter in the kid’s horrific childhood biography, in which he learned a seemingly random trivial tidbit of information that would later come in handy.
My problem with the movie is simple – at the beginning it is SO intensely visceral and powerful. For the first 20 minutes I felt like globalization itself had reached out its invisible interdependent hand and punched me in the gut, and hard. The crazy juxtaposition of the Millionaire theme music with scenes of torture, abuse and poverty seemed like a surreal nightmare, which is what the exportation of Western consumer culture is  for most of the world – a hypnotic nightmare which you can neither accept nor reject.
But quickly the film morphs into a predictable love story with poorly developed characters, and eventually you are just basically watching a good episode of Millionaire, rooting for the poor kid to strike it rich, and beat the devious host at his trickery and torture. All of India is also rooting for him, as if his victory will pull them out of poverty too (of course, it won’t). The message is in the beauty of co-optation, made all the more manipulative by the stunningly juxtaposed scenes in the early part of the movie. Nothing wrong with mindless greed in the end, nothing wrong with the system that produced it and gave it theme music and three lifelines, because anyone can strike it rich, even a slumdog. And if a slumdog gets rich, then everybody’s happy. I almost felt like the film itself was a bank applying for bailout funds, giving itself the golden parachute of a hollywood ending. And also, there’s only so much M.I.A. a boy can stand.
And then, to top it off, you get to watch the credits roll to the characters dancing to a mutated Hollywood-meets-Bollywood dance sequence. Are you serious? No, really? Is you fo real? Apparently they are. It got nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars instead of Wall-E, a movie I considered to be true subversive genius.
I think I’ll save my money for Friday night’s screening of “The Dhamma Brothers” at The I.D. Project instead.
On another note, if you want a piece of culture that will actually make you think (and move), download some music by K’naan. The Somalian refugee/Canadian rapper is a great commentator on war and poverty, with sick lyrics and arrangements. Think of Eminem meets Kanye (if either had anything to say) with African rhythms and beats.
What culture are you loving/hating in this crazy interwoven world?