the final answer...

journalism is so simple.

take slumdog millionaire, for example. ive had several people in england ask me if 'that sort of thing' really happens, and i've had heated debates with several people in india if it's villifying the country, exaggerated, or just plain bollocks.

these arguments - with other Indians - have mostly been long and pointless, and when people from England ask me - i usually reply "i wouldn't be surprised" - but i can't say yes or no.
i mean, i have seen police brutality, so i know THAT happens, but do they shock prisoners into unconsciousness? again, i wouldn't be surprised but i don't know.

are young beggars deliberately maimed? i am almost certain that DOES happen because in what little social work i've done i've heard stories of this sort - in fact stories that are worse, if u can actually imagine. but once again, i can't say yes for sure.

The Times did the obvious thing. It's so obvious that noone seems to do it.

They went and asked the slumdogs.

They screened the movie for 30 kids from the slums, and then asked them what they thought. The reporter writes:

"Barefoot in their filthy vests and shorts, they pick their noses, hold their mouths wide open and goggle at the television screen. The older boys - the eldest is 17 - clap their hands and laugh uproariously during the comic scenes. "

So beautifully written, I can just see that so clearly. Anyway, i digress. The final answer is.. (i didn't intend that)

“It gives an accurate picture of the world, of our kind of life.”

And about the beggar scene:

" 'It doesn't happen like that,' says Pipi, who claims to be 14. 'Most of the beggars stay with their families. Their mothers and fathers are in charge.' The children say that nobody in their neighbourhood has been mutilated deliberately like the fictional youngster who is blinded in Slumdog - but they believe that such atrocities do happen elsewhere in Mumbai."

I found this line quite moving, actually:

"They approve of the way in which Jamal and his brother are shown working together to survive. 'We have to look after each other,' says Ashfaq, 13. 'Nobody else does.' "

Anyway, there were some comments at the bottom of the piece from online readers - one of them is from Toronto and claims that the movie is an accurate depiction of life in India. I don't know who this character is, but I find it really hard to believe that he knows anything about it. He may be Indian, and he may have spent years in India, but how many of us who've lived all our lives in the country know about this world?

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About the movie itself - as eyefry says, don't know what the fuss is all about. I thought it was fantastic, moving, (even though I'd read the book and knew what was coming, I had to choke back the tears during the beggar scene).. whether it wins the oscar or not is immaterial. i mean, no country for old men won it last year, the departed won it the year before. sure, these movies were all wonderful in an arty kind of way, but slumdog makes you look at reality doesn't it? anyway the oscars is all bollocks, so i'm not going to waste time talking about it.

And the movie made me want to DO something, and from people I've spoken to I'm not the only one who felt that way – what more could a film hope to achieve?