I've been waiting for weeks to see the movie "Slumdog Millionaire" and it finally came to York this past weekend. It's a story of a teenage orphan, Jamal, from the slums of Mumbai who becomes the biggest winner ever on India's version of "Who wants to be a Millionaire." He is accused of cheating and is tortured by the local police. He is even tied up and hung from the ceiling, and then hooked up to a car battery and jumper cables and shocked. He was forced to explain how he knew the answer to each question. He learned these answers the hard way. Each question from the game show took him back to a different episode in his life growing up. He and his brother were orphaned when they were very young boys when a large group of people stormed the slums and tortured and killed many of the residents, including their mother. Many children had to run for their lives, forced to fend for themselves. They lived by rummaging through garbage dumps for food. They faced extreme inhumane treatment by sinister men who pretended to want to take care of them, but had only their own greedy purposes in mind - some of these men would burn or gouge out the eyes of some of these little orphaned children and have them sing and beg for money from strangers. The men would take the money and keep it for themselves. Others were forced into prostitution. It was a life of survival. The story of Jamal and his brother, who were swept along different paths as they were growing up, is such a compelling, compassionate story of extreme poverty, torture and survival by whatever means it took. I honestly have to say this is one of the best movies I have ever seen.
The actors who portrayed the brothers when they were small are truly the stars of this movie. Their performances were outstanding.
Also, sit tight when the movie is over. There's an extra thrown in at the end of the movie. It's fun and entertaining.
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