Why "Slumdog" Sucks -- (It's True, Someone Didn't Like It...)

By all accounts, "Slumdog Millionaire" is one of the best movies of the year—or ever. It’s the “feel-good fairytale” that the world’s critics can’t stop rhapsodizing about. And every time I visit Facebook, another acquaintance, coworker, or cousin has posted some new paean to the film’s life-changing effects.

It’s “Slumdog Millionaire.” And I didn’t like it. While the world is toasting “Slumdog” as a “celebration of life, love, and hope,” I can only smile weakly and mumble in half-hearted agreement—because disliking “Slumdog” apparently makes me a horrible, incorrigibly cynical curmudgeon. And I’m not. I swear I’m not.

To be fair, I didn’t hate the film. Visually, it was thrilling. The actors were appealing. And no one can deny that Danny Boyle is an exceptionally skilled director (if anything, he’s too slick).

But I distrust the film’s motives and messages—and, packaged as well as they are by Boyle (et al.), I worry that they obscure some important but hard-to-face truths, not only about the reality of life in third-world slums but also about the nature of romantic love, the power of hope, and “fate.”

False notions about how romantic love works—ideas of destiny and “love at first sight”—are fed to us in a constant stream of movies and TV shows. And I think that many of us are overdosing on them, to the point where we’re crippled in our real-world relationships. When real life doesn’t measure up to the epic love stories we see in movies like “Slumdog,” we label our relationships as failures and seek out new, more “epic” romances. (As recently reported in “Time” magazine, a study conducted at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh found that problems typically reported by couples in relationship counseling often reflect misconceptions about love and romance—misconceptions that are due to the influence of Hollywood films.)

Fairy tales are great—but let’s be clear: plucky courage isn’t enough to propel an orphan out of an Indian slum, and true love really doesn’t conquer all. 

I thought that the “these two people are destined to be together” storyline in “Slumdog” was repellently (and cheaply) manipulative. It’s all too easy for a filmmaker to put a lump in our throats by showing us this old Cinderella story in a beautiful package like “Slumdog Millionaire”—and I really hope that viewers aren’t measuring their own love stories by this impossible standard.

I know, I know. Movies are often about escapism. And this sort of thing is nothing new—a friend recently pointed out “Slumdog” could’ve been written by a modern-day Dickens. Well, for that matter, I don’t much care for Dickens’s simplistic morality, either.

Maybe I <em>am</em> an incorrigibly cynical curmudgeon, after all.

[Editor's note: "Slumdog Millionaire" is available on DVD March 31st.  You can pre-order it by clicking here.].

(Images courtesy of Fox Searchlight)

Comments

[Ciel]

Although I respect your right to dislike the film, I truly believe you are incorrect in your assessment of it. Those with words more eloquent than my own have already summed it up in the comments above me, but I will say this:

This is a film, a *story*. Although representing true events that many people face/have faced in their daily lives, it is by no means an account of *existing* people. Of course the guy gets the girl at the end, of course they live happily ever after (or, at least end on an a positive, if ambiguous note).

Slumdog Millionaire is not a documentary - on the truth of poverty, nor on the natural courses of romance. It is a FILM, a REPRESENTATION (hell, and IDEALIZATION) and should be judged as such.

Deploring it for wanting to bring a sense of hope to what would be an otherwise horrific and disheartening series of events is both masochistic and in a way selfish. If you wanted to see a documentary, you should have done so instead. Better yet, do some research and make a difference. But please don't malign a good film just because you decided you didn't feel like watching a happy ending.

[Ciel]

Also, I disagree with anyone who called the writer of this article a racist. I am an Indian myself, and nowhere in their writing did they indicate any sort of malicious intent towards the people of India.

Pointing fingers at the first signs of disagreement isn't very mature.

[K. of San Antonio]

I've heard "it's just a movie (song, book, tv show)" so many times. And the attitude is that the movie, etc., is "fun" and you're draining all the "fun" out of it if you think too much. It's better to see or hear or touch the various media and have a critical perspective on them and use your brain when you approach them instead of mindlessly absorbing the content. I'm not saying that we (whoever the "we" are) have to agree on everything, but it's better to use your brains instead of acting like mindless machines passively absorbing everything.

[Savio]

Hey faultolerant!
So sorry to make you write against me. I really only wanted those who said bad things to know that good and bad is nothing but our perception. Didnt mean to write about Americans either. I have Indians who I can talk about also in the same way. What I meant is... dont simply make it a big deal. Its a movie. Also, its true. And life is different in the third worlds or so many call it. I am happy you read all thru and what I wrote. You may be American and so I understand... I aint anti... I work for them. I just wanted to say - dont judge people because they stay in India. A women called the other day and asked if my friend who was taking that call and asked if he stays in Dharavi and if he appreciated how dirty his country was. I dont know what she implied. She was just being herself... or anti or whatever. She was yet given all the help she needed from that guy.
Its for those people that I wrote.
A car is a big deal for me... here a middle class guy has to kill himself for one. Its not that much of an effort there and its true. And thats what I implied that movies and cars and all is yet a gettaway for us and we only dream of it. Abroad, they can own it.
Again... if you didnt understand what I implied dont judge me.

[sadf]

You are a gay idiot who is obsessed with 'Milk.'

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE IS GORGEOUS AND GENIUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Anne Zinta]

To be honest....Slumdog Millionaire Sucks.....no depiction of truth...even if it is made docu type...yep it sucks big time....only darker side of mumbai is shown and in fact muslim women and men get too much freedom in India that is even not possible in pakistan as well as middle-east countries. The undying and lively spirit of Mumbai should also been shown. And yes this is recorded:It is only city in the world that after going through series of blasts since 1991 (of course conducted by muslim terrorists) still has peaceful ambience (because Hindus & Christains of Mumbai never strongly reacted). This element of tolerance was absent in the movie which makes it void in loss of facts.

[Anne Zinta]

To be honest....Slumdog Millionaire Sucks.....no depiction of truth...even if it is made docu type...yep it sucks big time....only darker side of mumbai is shown and in fact muslim women and men get too much freedom in India that is even not possible in pakistan as well as middle-east countries. The undying and lively spirit of Mumbai should also been shown. And yes this is recorded:It is only city in the world that after going through series of blasts since 1991 (of course conducted by muslim terrorists) still has peaceful ambience (because Hindus & Christains of Mumbai never strongly reacted). This element of tolerance was absent in the movie which makes it void in loss of facts.................

[G]

While it is nice to see a movie based in India that doesn’t make it a great film.

The film is just a slightly above mediocre Hollywood movie that has Indian actors instead of Americans.

The film is ultra predictable, cheesy, and the characters are shallow.

Why does he fall in love with her? There is no real chemistry between the characters. The audience is given no reason to believe there is any connection there. Why does he like her? She is hot? That is it.

The good looking people get together and get rich, the bad and not as pretty people lose, die, get shot, The End. How many films are like this? Like a million…

This is style (cute kids, great scenery in the movie) over substance.

[Romey]

Yeah, I agree, the love story part sucked. And the winning the gameshow part. Some of the street scenes were okay. Really the movie was only interesting when it was about hardship. It's possible to make a movie about uplifting things and not have it seem cheesy--but not this type of movie.

[Thorn]

You can not like this film and not be a racist you know. No really, every time someone does not like something that features a majority of actors from another race, religion, or creed does not mean they dislike the production because of that.

I for one disliked Slumdog… a lot.

There were items I liked of course, it had a great director. The soundtrack was excellent in my opinion. I enjoyed some of the early moments where there was comedy between the brothers even if it was mean spirited.

What I did not like is the UNREALISTIC depiction of life in India's slums. I love how people have not experienced applaud the realistic depiction never having been there, lived there, or suffered there. Slumdog in NO WAY resembles realistic life in the slums. Are there people exploiting children, sure. Is there theft? But the movie made the journey of the "three musketeers" into this world wind adventure in a way, while there were pitfalls at every corner that does not change the fact that it was a grand adventure and most children in slums experience NO SUCH THING. What they experience is real pain, and suffering. They need more to get out of the slums than "hope" and "fate". They need hard work and determination, and even that guarantees you nothing.

This movie sends the wrong message. The two brothers get out of the slums in two ways through violence, crime, love, fate, and luck. Not what I want my daughter seeing as her only options for betterment. I would rather she rely on hard work, education, dedication, and faith in herself. Do you know how hard it is to get out of the slums? Nearly impossible, it takes a whole family pulling together for real change.

After all the tragedy experienced in this film, they try to gloss it over at the end after the death of the brother (while the other two characters are not aware the equally do not seem to care) they celebrate and are happy. No one asks about him, no one cares. Jamal does not care how his love escapes her abusive lover, he is just glad to have her. Really? I can not support such selfishness. I would need to know, and all the dancing at the end of the film can not take a viewer with a brain from watching abuse, religious persecution, murder, living in garbage, child exploitation, rape, forcible amputation, facial mutilation, police torture and brutality, corruption, organized crime, prostitution to a "happy place".

If this is your idea of a feel good story you are perverted. This movie did not feel good, it was not deep, it was slightly clever in concept with how he knew the answers to the questions but the TV show LOST has more original story telling and it's depth is much more noticeable. Often the messages, influences, and inspirations are layered 4 deep. This is a clever "I see what you did there" film that will make arm chair artsy types feel good about themselves as they explain the painfully obvious to the slightly less intelligent person sitting next to them.

[az]

I AGREE. This movie sucks and is way overrated.