Gumdog Godzillianaire

Rating: 3/10 (8 December 2010)

I'm usually pretty good at coming up with witty, poignant titles for my reviews, but this movie doesn't even deserve that.
Every few years someone from a rich Western culture makes a film about a poor Eastern culture which makes rich Western audiences feel better about themselves because now they somehow connect with poor Easterners. Slumdog Millionaire is one such film.
It's horribly contrived, like an ABC afterschool special. Themes which could otherwise be handled with interesting complexity are bashed over your head with all the subtlety of the Bhopal disaster. The good guy is lily-white good, and the bad guys are evil satans. Even when the good guy must do something unpleasant (such as fighting to protect a loved one), he cowers and lets his evil friend do the dirtywork. This film is nothing but a polarization of good vs. evil which reduces it (and Indian culture) to a silly comic book. But they cloak it in lots of tear-jerking footage of poverty, beggars and injustice so it makes you feel like you're watching something of social significance.
I lived in India for several years. I've seen the slums, the poverty, the despair & the hope of the people. It's much more complicated than what this silly travel brochure offers. I keep hoping one day someone will get it right, but alas, not this time. I'm sure someone will try again in 5 years or so.