An embarrassment to the Oscar

Rating: 1/10 (28 February 2009)

This is probably the most embarrassing, simplistic and plain stupid film I have ever seen. The acting is poor, the plot and script seem like they were written by a teenage girl, and the interesting filming and good soundtrack are unable to salvage anything from this insult to intelligence. Quite unbelievable that this was nominated for anything, let alone receiving the crazy amount of Oscars it received. Some hands must have been greased. The story itself is ludicrous, the message overly simplistic, not to mention patronizing. An English director presenting such a film about India is simply moralizing at other's expense (some outdated sense of the British empire?). But even without this, it is a sort of simplistic moralization (chidren-are-so-good-but-all-adults-are-horific) that makes the film, scene by scene, one of the most boring and repulsive works to have ever been screened.