Slumdog Millionaire
We watched this movie tonight. If you haven't seen Slumdog Millionaire yet, please do so and educate yourself.
I thought it was going to be a Bollywood movie; a nice lighthearted movie at the end of another perfect day - you know: lots of singing and dancing and a fairy tale ending. Nope. It's a lot more realistic than that. In fact it's pretty disturbing, dark and heavy.
I was born in Durban, South Africa, and raised in small village near there and I lived there for 4 years before moving to the UK. Durban has the largest population of Indians outside of India (Gandhi lived there for 21 years) and I was steeped in Indian culture so I never had the illusion that Indian culture is all incense, peace and meditation. Some of the worst and most organized criminal gangs in Durban were Indians.
So it was no surprise that Slumdog Millionaire is so dark and heavy.
All through the movie I kept thinking: "Thank God I was raised Christian and live in a Christian society."
Why?
Because non-Christian societies do not abide by Jesus' rule of "love they neighbor." I grew up knowing that I could not trust half the population, the Indians. Indians are sentimental folk. If they like you, they'll treat you like royalty. If they don't, beware. The same goes for the Zulu natives of Durban who are equally sentimental and kind when they are moved by their feelings. Give me Jesus' rule of love over sentimentality any day. Christian love requires effort not sentimental feelings which are fickle and unreliable.
The streets of Durban are full of Indian beggars, blind, lame and disfigured children and their mothers. I soon discovered that many of those children had been deliberately maimed by their mothers in order to be more successful beggars. Slumdog Millionaire shows that fact in an horrific manner.
Be warned: it's not a "nice" movie. Yes, it has a fairy tale ending but that's about the only "nice" thing that happens in two hours.
I thought it was going to be a Bollywood movie; a nice lighthearted movie at the end of another perfect day - you know: lots of singing and dancing and a fairy tale ending. Nope. It's a lot more realistic than that. In fact it's pretty disturbing, dark and heavy.
I was born in Durban, South Africa, and raised in small village near there and I lived there for 4 years before moving to the UK. Durban has the largest population of Indians outside of India (Gandhi lived there for 21 years) and I was steeped in Indian culture so I never had the illusion that Indian culture is all incense, peace and meditation. Some of the worst and most organized criminal gangs in Durban were Indians.
So it was no surprise that Slumdog Millionaire is so dark and heavy.
All through the movie I kept thinking: "Thank God I was raised Christian and live in a Christian society."
Why?
Because non-Christian societies do not abide by Jesus' rule of "love they neighbor." I grew up knowing that I could not trust half the population, the Indians. Indians are sentimental folk. If they like you, they'll treat you like royalty. If they don't, beware. The same goes for the Zulu natives of Durban who are equally sentimental and kind when they are moved by their feelings. Give me Jesus' rule of love over sentimentality any day. Christian love requires effort not sentimental feelings which are fickle and unreliable.
The streets of Durban are full of Indian beggars, blind, lame and disfigured children and their mothers. I soon discovered that many of those children had been deliberately maimed by their mothers in order to be more successful beggars. Slumdog Millionaire shows that fact in an horrific manner.
Be warned: it's not a "nice" movie. Yes, it has a fairy tale ending but that's about the only "nice" thing that happens in two hours.
posted by Joubert at 11:02 PM
The Alliance
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