Stage1ESLSlumdogMillionaire


 * Dear Students**

Welcome to this wikispace. This term we are going to view and study the 2008 film, Slumdog Millionaire, directed by Danny Boyle. We will watch it together and discuss, read and write about the themes that are presented in this film. The study of this film will provide the stimulus for an exploration of some of the issues related to third world poverty. You will be required to complete two tasks: an essay response to the film and an oral presentation on an issue related to third world poverty.

**Synopsis & Central Plot: **

Slumdog Millionaire is a gripping and fast-paced story centred on 18-year old Jamal, who was born and raised in the slums of Mumbai. As the film opens, Jamal is being tortured in a Mumbai police station when he is suspected of cheating on the game show, “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”. His crime: knowing too much. The plot unfolds in the present day with the game show questions providing the links to the story that unfolds from his past. This movie is one of contrasts and extremes, as the title suggests. Jamal’s life was difficult from the start and becomes more so when he and his brother are orphaned at a very young age. Together they have to fend for themselves and make choices that will shape their destinies. Jamal’s tragic youth and subsequent suffering are his lifeline - they provide the answers to the questions in his quest. The film is an overwhelming sensory experience which weaves into a seamless whole poverty and wealth, despair and hope, greed and generosity, blindness and vision. It is part crime movie, part dramatic cliff-hanger, part romance. Put them all together and it is one engrossing, gritty, passionate, uplifting exuberant film that catches your attention from the opening scenes and does not let go. **Main Themes to Engage through the Film: ** · The resilience of the human spirit in the midst of grinding poverty and the dignity of the human person · Trust and betrayal; corruption and integrity · The power of truth to set one free · Moral decision making and the choices that define one’s life and reveal one’s core values · Urbanization, slums, development and dislocation of the poor; Globalization and its unequal effects · Family bonds of loyalty and duty · The affective, moral and spiritual consequences of poverty · The role of a caste system as a form of social and economic control · <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">The misuse of power by those in authority · <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">The role of media on Indian culture and meaningless competition in a world with harsh inequalities · <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Social, political and economic exclusion and isolation due to poverty · <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Hope and destiny; the unparalleled power of love

** Social Justice Themes and Ethical Connections **

<span style="display: block; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">One of <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> the most challenging and potentially dangerous realities about this film is its ability to entertain even through the lens of absolute poverty and destitution. Its pace and energy can easily distract one long enough to forget to ask critical questions about the gritty and dehumanizing realities used as a backdrop to entertain in the film. Several of these dynamics need closer examination and analysis:

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">• <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">The prevalence of greed and corruption depicted in several different ways including the power <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt; text-indent: -14.2pt;">leveraged by organized crime syndicates in Mumbai. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">• <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">The growing trend of urbanization and the rising population of slums worldwide <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">• <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">The trafficking of young girls and the exploitation of children by adults. The vulnerability of orphans who are preyed upon in countless ways. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">• <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">The misuse of power as seen in the torture scene and recurring police brutality with little or no <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt; text-indent: -14.2pt;">regard for human dignity or rights. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">• <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">The prevalent but unexamined nature and consequence of religious violence. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">• <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">The role and globalization of media which serves to deform human desires and promote empty <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt; text-indent: -14.2pt;">aspirations. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">• <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">The ethics of a caste system.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">The themes of social justice teaching that can be explored through this film include human dignity, solidarity, the option for the poor, globalization and economic justice, and the common good.

//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Source: //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Feely, Katherine SND, Films & Catholic Social Teaching, [|www.educationforjustice.org]

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">View the film and the supplementary material on the dvd, read the internet articles on the links included below and then answer the questions about the film. **__ Websites __** [|**http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slumdog_Millionaire**] [|**http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/alice_miles/article5511650.ece**] [|**http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4660**] [|**http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/picturegalleries/4307256/Slumdog-Millionaire-Mumbais-real-slumdogs.html**] [|**http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCrI-KRqDnU**] [|**http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iC71S3o-4U&feature=related**] [|**http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y6XljAq0ls&feature=related**] [|**http://famvin.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/slumdogmillionaire.pdf**] [|**http://soberingconclusion.com/movies/?p=1184**]

** 1. What is this story basically about? (1 paragraph – own words) ** ** 2. How does the film open? ** ** 3. What is the question that appears on the screen at the beginning of the film? What are the possible answers? ** ** 4. What are the questions on the quiz show and how does Jamal know the answer to each of them? ** ** 5. What is Jamal’s motive for going on the quiz show? ** ** 6. Where does the word ‘slumdog’ come from? ** ** 7. What is a chai wallah? ** ** 8. What images of life in the Mumbai slums does this film portray? ** ** 9. How do we know from very early on in the film that Salim will turn out bad? ** ** 10. Is this film based on a true story? ** ** 11. What controversy has been stirred by this film? ** ** 12. What social justice issues are portrayed in the film? ** ** 13. What turns out to be the answer to the question asked at the beginning of the film? ** ** 14. What aspects of this film work? ** ** 15. Are there any aspects of the film that don’t seem quite right to you? **
 * Questions**

** Group Discussion and blog writing ** In groups of 3 or 4 discuss the following questions and write some blog entries to express your thoughts. **Police Inspector:** Doctors...Lawyers...never get past 60, 000 rupees. He's only 6 million. [pause] **Police Inspector:** What can our slumdog possibly know? **Jamal Malik:** (quietly) The answers.
 * What does the title mean? How do the title and the contrasts within it provide a symobolic summary of the film?
 * Early in the film we see the young Jamal jump into a latrine pit to steal a glimpse at a visiting movie star. How does his singlemindesness to see this movie star reveal his determination? What other examples do you see in the film of his determination?
 * In the film, destiny is a central theme. What does it mean that all Jamal desires is just out of his reach? (the prized autograph, Latika, his brother, the answers, etc)
 * Compare and contrast 3 pivotal choices or decisions made by Jamal and Salim. How do their choices affect their respective paths in life or 'destinies'?
 * Is ethical decision making possible when one must make choices based on survival? Do seemingly "bad" choices make a person bed?
 * What do you think the film is saying about the globalisation of culture through media? We see the game show "Who wants to be a Millionaire?" adapted in the Indian culture. Is this a sign of progress? Why or why not?
 * What is the film saying about the effect of money on culture?
 * In one exchange of dialogue during the film during the interrogation of Jamal, the police inspectors discuss the impossibility of what Jamal knows.

//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Source: //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Feely, Katherine SND, Films & Catholic Social Teaching, [|www.educationforjustice.org]