Slumdog Millionaire has gotten a lot of hype lately.  It was the big winner at the Golden Globes and there is talk that it might win an Academy Award.  I have not seen it yet and I have not decided if I will.  On one hand, the trailer below describes it as “the feel good movie of the year.”  I also have a lot of friends who say it is an uplifting triumph of the human spirit.  So, I was actually getting quite excited about this movie.  It looked original, gritty and somewhat empowering. 

      However, recently, I have heard that there is a little bit more to the film than the way it is marketed and presented in the previews.  Stephen Simon,  Spiritual Cinema Circle founder and Academy Award winning producer of What Dreams May Come — a pioneer in the genre of spiritual entertainment — stopped watching Slumdog Millionaire after 30 minutes.  According to his last newsletter, he said the first 30 minutes of the film show a young boy graphically tortured by the police and additional abuse of young children in India.  After 30 minutes of the extreme violence and exploitation, Stephen Simon had enough and stopped watching.  To be fair, he also mentioned that his friends said that if you can make it through the first 30 minutes, then it is well worth the journey that takes place in the film.

       I am really conflicted about this film and excessive violence in movies in general.  On one hand, the violence may be necessary to raise public awareness for the abuse of children in India.  On the other hand, the movie is being marketed as a “feel good film about the triumph of the human spirit.”  I don’t mind occasional violence in a film if it is necessary to reveal some injustice, such as Hotel Rwanda.  But, I would at least like to be forewarned that I am going to be exposed to graphic violence and torture before I pay my 10 bucks to watch it.

      So, if you have any thoughts on Slumdog Millionaire, I’d love to hear them.  Is the violence necessary or could it have been limited?  Would you recommend it?  I just wanted to forewarn you that this movie may be a consious movie worth seeing, but there is graphic violence and torture during the first 30 minutes.  The trailer, which I find highly misleading and even a little deceptive given what I now know, is below… 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 at 12:26 pm and is filed under Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.