Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Works Cited

"Slumdog Millionaire", by Simon Beaufoy, British film 2008, directed by Danny Boyle.

The Guardian, 16 January 2009, Stuart Jeffries, 'I'm the luckiest novelist in the World',
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jan/16/danny-boyle-india

Movies at MSN, May 3, 2011, Slumdog Millionaire: Overview, by  Jason Buchanan, Rovi, Movihttp://movies.msn.com/movies/movie/slumdog-millionaire/

IMOb, The Internet Movie Database, May 2, 2011,  Slumdog Millionaire 2008, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1010048/

Yahoo Movies, April 17, 2011, Slumdog Millionaire, http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809956055/details

Wikipedia, April 25, 2011, Slumdog Millionaire, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slumdog_Millionaire

Theme

The main theme of the movie is about Jamal searching for Latika, the love of his life. The reason that he is a contestant in "Who want to be a Millionaire" is because he knows that Latika watchs the show.  He has no idea where she is and how to find her. She has been sold, as a slave, to a rich gangster by his brother Salim.  When she tried to escape, to meet up with Jamal at the train station, just when they had laid eyes on one another, she was snatched by the gangsters.  Jamal knowing, that she had made a decision to be with him, was enough to motivate him to find her by any means.  The means brought him to a very unlikely place, which was a contestant in the show.  The host, not understanding how a poor, uneducated young man could know all the answers, turns him over to the police.  The host believes that he must be cheating and therefore gets very angry.  Jamal, after being tortured by the police, explains every event from his life that brought about him knowing the answers.  The police finally release him.  He goes back to the show where he has that last question to answer.

Monday, May 2, 2011

Examination of the time period/cultural background

The time period is modern day India.  The movie starts out with a question.  The question is in the form of a trivia:       Jamal is one question away from winning 20 repees. 
                                                               How did he do it?
                                                                A. He cheated
                                                                B. He is lucky.
                                                                C. He is a genius
                                                                D. It is his destiny

At the end of the movie the correct answer is given, D. It is his destiny.  The definition of destiny is;
des·ti·ny  (dst-n)
n. pl. des·ti·nies
1. The inevitable or necessary fate to which a particular person or thing is destined; one's lot.
2. A predetermined course of events considered as something beyond human power or control:
3. The power or agency thought to predetermine events: Destiny brought them together

Traditional Indian cultural and thinking on "destiny" plays an important part in the movie. All the events that have brought Jamal to the climax of the movie, which is being a contestant on "Who wants to be a Millionaire", are based on that Jamal and Latika are destined to be together.  Jamal knows this from an early age.  His brother and he refer to themselves as the two musketeers.  Jamal acknowledges that Latika is the third musketeer.  The last trivia question that Jamal is presented with, to win all the money, is  "What is the name of the third Musketeer?"  He learned the name of the first two musketeers, but never learned the name of the third. So he has one last life-line and it  is a phone call.  The call is made.  It so happens that Latika has his brother's phone and she answers.  Neither of them know the answer, but she tells him which one to choose, and of course, it is the correct answer.


Monday, April 25, 2011

Geographic and Physical Setting

The movie starts with Jamal being a contestant in the India's version of  "Who wants to be a Millionaire".  He is just one question away from winning a million dollars, which is 20 million repees. Throughout the movie the settings switches back and forth, showing scenes from his youth, that led up to him being a contestant.  The Geographic setting is Mumbia, India.  The physical setting is the slums, a very poverty stricken area.  When Jamal and his brother are young children they are orphaned, when their mother gets brutually murdered.  With no one else to take care of them, they became homeless.  They have to find a way to survive. Sometime they would get their food from a dump site. They traveled city to city, looking for opportunities to make money to survive.
The movie was based on the book, Q and A by Vikas Swarup, which was made into the film Slumdog Millionaire. 


View Full Size Image

Sunday, April 17, 2011

The Main Characters in Slumdog Millionaire

http://thelangarhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/slumdog_millionaire19.jpg
The movie Slumdog Millionaire's main character is Jamal.  The other two characters are his brother Salim and Latika, all orphaned children who have to fen for themselves.  Jamal is an all around good guy.  In spite of all the negative circumstances, Jamal is determined to find and save the love of his life, Latika.  He is the hero in the movie. He shows loyalty, courage and compassion towards Latika  Latika is a good girl that falls into the wrong hands and needs rescueing, she is the damsal in distress. She is humble and quite, she doesn't say much throughout the movie. Salim is the opposite of his brother, Jamal. Salim is cruel and sometimes downright evil, for most of the movie he protrays a villian. Salim from the very beginning doesn't want Latika to be part of their lives and does everything he can to get rid of her.  He purposely keeps Jamal and Latika apart.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Why I chose Slumdog Millionaire

http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/images/slumdog-reviewgal-1.jpg
I really enjoyed this movie.  It's a rags to riches movie, but the riches aren't just monetary.  The journey that the main character, Jamal, takes is heartbreaking but exciting at the same time.  You find yourself almost praying for the young man to prevail in his quest to find his long lost love.