Is it because I’m poor, too?

young jamal making u-u

I love Slumdog. But I don’t love it as much everyone is loving it. There’s a big cloud of doubt on my head. I want to watch it again.

Maybe it’s because I’m looking at it with a critical eye. And given that poverty is close to every Pinoy’s hearts, then we’re looking at this movie from that perspective. If India didn’t embrace it as warmly as the rest of the world, then my ambiguity towards the movie must have some logic. Everybody seems to be gushing over the movie. Maybe I was just a victim of the hype.

Of Boyle’s, Trainspotting and 28 days are way ahead of the pack.

The writing is just amazing but I wonder why it had to be in English most of the time. It was a huge disconnect.

The idea of fairy tale destiny has given the story’s melodrama and outrageous timing an “escape clause” as dude likes to say it. But it was an acceptable device. Except when I think of poverty, I’m favoring City of God, Amores Perros and even Pila Balde.

But all the child actors were fantastic! I loved them all.

It was an outsider doing a movie about one of the most unique cultures in the world, about poverty that is only palpable if you are in it. Maybe that’s where I’m coming from. Because technically, that movie was nearly flawless. Does it have heart? It does…although I would say it was borne of the observations of a shrink to a troubled child, and not the point of view of say, a mother’s child. And what’s with the very far out analogy? Well, I just saw last night a movie that I thoroughly enjoyed…Parenthood!