Slumdog Millionaire...and Hope

My friend, JJ Peterson, one of the funniest, most talented (hey, he danced in a Missy Elliot video!)and one of the most compassionate human beings on the planet, first recommended Slumdog, and I also read the reviews locally in the Austin American Statesman... but finally got around to seeing it with Ariele, Hannah and Calla last night. My expectations were high, which usually does not bode well, but when I left the theater I found myself wiping the tears away (yeah, I know you are shocked), but also wrestling with the tag-team emotions of exhileration, deep sadness, grudging admiration, simmering hope and unabashed joy. I don't know if it will win tons of awards. It wouldn't surprise me if it did, because it was beautifully shot, well cast, and brilliantly acted, but I don't know much about the technical side of the movie business. I just know what moves my soul, challenges my head and grabs my heart...and Slumdog did that. Perhaps, it was that I had just spent the week before immersing myself in the lives of the slumdogs of the 1st century Palestinian world, the shepherds, in preparation to talk at Journey Sunday morning. Maybe it is my basic inclination to pull for the underdog (Go Tribe and Baylor Bears), and my inability to detach myself fully from on the screen brutality and injustice when I know the same is happening as we inhale and exhale in this existential moment. I'm not sure I can explain it, but it worked for me...the fairytale ending for the beleagered protagonist was not a turn-off for me...and while I am a sucker for Bad News Bears and every other kids sports sadsack to city champ story, this seemed somehow differrent. Even if it wasn't, I liked it...

I believe that God doesn't kick slumdogs, shepherds, or any other marginalized outsider to the curb...there is hope, there is grace, there is justice...and there is love. That's what Jamal was ultimately chasing...aren't we all?

I encourage you to see it...and believe it.

Pling...Pling...

dg