Happy New Year, folks! This week is always a great week to catch up on holiday movies.  I’ve already seen three:  Slumdog Millionaire (Keep reading this post,) The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and The Day the Earth Stood Still.  Hope to see up to maybe three more.  

Slumdog Millionaire has been receiving Oscar buzz, so I took a matinee in to see what the fuss was all about.  It is a typical Academy Award potential nominee in that it is a “serious.”  The tale told weaves its way between the nightmares of the poorest of the poor and the dreams of India’s version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire (whose prize is actually 20 million rupees which equals $411,000 US.)

The movie revolves around the life story, told in flashbacks, of Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is one question away from winning the top

prize. Each chapter of his story reveals the key to the answer to one of the game show’s questions.

Will he become rich because of the knowledge derived from his experiences or is he already rich because of them.   Will the prize be won at the end of the show by answering the questions or has the prize already been claimed by being willing to struggle with questions?  See, told ‘ya the movie was “serious” stuff.

In Bollywood fashion, there is a dance scene saved for the closing credits. (Bollywood loved large joyful dance scenes.) Someone mashed up that scene with clips from throughout the movie (which really gives nothing away)  The song is Jai Ho, which translates into father, the Hindu God Vishnu, and/or “conqueror of death.”  As the dance is a celebration of life, I’m gonna go with the latter definition.