Slumdogs

Neil Gaiman (Writer, Stardust (2007):
 "without darkness, light is meaningless"

May Sarton: 
... without darkness
Nothing comes to birth,
As without light
Nothing flowers.

You may have heard about Slumdog Millionaire (2008) by now. We saw it several weeks ago and it's taking me awhile to write about it. Powerful and beautiful. Lots of controversy on everything from how the term "slumdog" is disrespectful to how an English director could dare make a movie about the poverty of India. The Wikipedia article addresses those and other issues with the movie.  Danny Boyle also did Millions (2004) whcih is beautiful and a hilarious look at early saints and Trainspotting (1996) which has a similar toilet scene as Slumdog. But putting aside all the controversies, what I came away with was a profound sense of having watched a story of healing and joy in the aftermath of incredible darkness. There is also a dramatic story of redemption when a character who is Muslim says in English the phrase which translates as Allah Akbar and is, perhaps, more known in Western ears as the last thing homicide bombers say before they blow themselves up and anyone else in the area. In the ears of alphabetically -arranged siblings it's also a phrase once oft-uttered by Mom as she tried raising boys while home alone and after having lived in a country where it was expected for Westerners to have 200 or more people doing the housework. Honorable Oscar goes to Sogra, our nanny in Tehran.

The closing credits are done over a  dance in a train station which is supposed to be a homage to Bollywood movies of which this movie is not. Since I've never seen a Bollywood movie, I had no idea and just thought it was an expression of incredible joy by the characters  for having survived. Listen carefully to the closing song, especially the very last word.
The character, Jamal, and his brother are clearly Muslim in the movie which makes a huge difference in the story. An internet page said the book makes the characters more "everyman" and not distinctly one religion or another. I couldn't find out if the actors are Muslim although the name of one of the children who plays a younger Jamal is probably a Muslim name unless the name Mohammed has crossed over into Hindu territory. What is especially interesting to me is finally finding out what the hell happened to Bombay.

Quiz Show (1994)

Great movie with both Bobby Darin and Lyle Lovett standing in for Bertolt Brecht. John Turturro is always good. One of the characters makes a statement about Harvard having an admission quota for Jews. I seem to remember Dad saying that, too. Is that right or am I thinking of something else.
Next time you wonder where the entertainment value is in game shows that ask simple questions think of this quote from the movie, "difficulty of question not the issue, the size of the money is what the public wants to see."

Thanks to Youtube, you can watch the original with the real Herb Stemple. He gets asked what was the fate of King Henry's wives. He answers,"They died."

Married Life (2007)

Very fun comedy, romance, suspense. Well acted and directed. Also! Alternate endings! Just like Choose Your Own Adventure books.