I was very pleased to hear today that SlumDog Millionnaire (the motion picture) has won the 2009 Oscar for best film.  This is not because I do not like the other movies it was competing with. All are really excellent. Without being a close follower of the Oscars, however, I dare say it may be for the first time that a movie of this sort, the sort of SlumDog Millionnaire, wins an Oscar.

By a movie of this sort I mean one which has, intentionally or not, succeeded in bringing in ”development issues” such as poverty, slums, inequality, injustice, exploitation, crime, corruption, mafia, etc., plus the very values and cultures these development issues would rest on, as the very background from which the story unfolds.  In this, though, these issues are not the story; they are, however, imbuing the story in its every aspect and by this creating an incredible awareness about them.

The story itself is a story about love and destiny, in fact a story about the love which is the destiny of the main character Jamal. Because of what I say in the above paragraph, you may think that the movie is incredibly depressing. Truth is though (according to me) that it is quite the opposite (not just because of the Bollywood ending!), it is one of the most positive movies I have seen, I guess precisely because of the completeness of what it shows and how it shows life can be beautiful.  Other movies may tend to show that life is beautiful, too, however perhaps not showing life as it is, or rather as it is increasingly becoming nowadays, in terms of ”developing” and ”developed” being increasingly collided and super-imposed.

SlumDog Millionnaire does precisely that, it collides and superimposes ”developing” and ”developed”, this in a way as seamless and non-preaching as it can be. The purpose of the movie is not to tell you how little you know (about development), and give away messages already digested. In this sense, would you call this an example of socially responsible movie-making? I think yes. Why? Because by the story being as it is, and told as it is, it helps those seeing the movie to learn about it and the circumstances it may have been inspired by to their best.

”Development issues” are not the focus of the movie. SlumDog Millionnaire does not throw these into your face, almost as if blaming you for not knowing about them, not having experienced them, not being in them (which makes me think of another movie doing precisely that, i.e., Seven Pounds, and for which reason I find weak …). They are, however, presented in a way that creates the experience of these being precisely what life (our peoples’ life, on planet Earth, now) is made of. And if you were to think about it, this is that way. It is just that we (some of us, all of us, considering that ‘’development issues’’ are about both ends of the spectrum!) do not see it all at once as we can see it in that movie.

Hopefully more movies like this will be made, this without taking away the benefit of being touched and struck by what they show. The fact that a movie such as this ended up winning the Oscar is truly indicative of what the world is going through at the moment … A couple of years ago a movie of this sort would have gone much praised yet unnoticed.

Have not seen SlumDog Millionnaire yet? Go get your tickets.