It Is Written

I finally saw Slumdog Millionaire, which I'd been wanting to see for a while. First of all, I absolutely loved the Indian rap at the end. I love that because the boy and girl get each other, finally, and are overjoyed, he kisses her scarred cheek and then they dance about it.

Secondly, it was far into the movie that I realized that the boy on the television show is the younger child and not the older brother (that it's Jamal and not Salim who is the protagonist). I think as an older sibling myself, I was ready to identify with and sympathize with the oldest sibling in the film. Salim is a pretty horrible person--it is ambiguous whether or not he dropped Latika's hand on purpose; he stole and sold his brother's autograph; he stole his brother's girl and split and then let her be taken by a horrible man (among other things). There's some good to him and some filial affection--he escapes with his brother rather than allowing him to be blinded; and, at the end, he sets Latika free and shoots his old employer who might've tried to get her back.

One of the interesting themes is the interplay between "destiny" (Jamal and Latika end up together) and choice (which is especially apparent in the difference between Jamal and Salim, who had identical upbringings, but who end up with very different morals [Salim is both the more religious of the two and the more evil]).