Slum Dog 'Suicide Bomber'

Prerequisite for this thread:

Watch slumdog millionaire

Personally I though the movie was pretty good...not so sure about all those academy awards...but an excellent story about the little guy that overcomes the challenges that life threw at him on a consistant basis throughout his childhood...and serious challenges they were...

But as a good of a feel good movie there is, I think what should be taken from it is exactly what was not shown or only shown as a plot enhancers.

There are a few lessons that struck me immediately...

1. The hazards of globalization and more directly modernization...and its effects on a devoutly religious community. [That is modernization via globalization]

i.e. the displacement of thousands (if not tens of thousands) of poor people strung along by religious fundamentals. Displaced so the rich man (most likely through foreign investment) can take and convert valuable real estate into a much more profitable use as a hotel complex...

How do you think this was done? Its called globalization and the bankers of the world squeezing every last drop of profitability they can out of every square inch of inhabited land with no consent by its occupiers...And the government assisting and abetting those with the know how to get the job done. After all whats a few thousand lives compared to a few million in there pockets, right?

2. What we didnt see that has a far better chance than any poor orphan kid winning 20 million rubles is the likely-hood the kid gets introduced to some extreme religious setting during his strenuous journeys...

[not in the movie, but a much more plausible scenario...]

The group finds the kids as young immature pre adolescant children with minds ripe for molding. The religious group takes the kids in and treats them as their own...adopting them...feeding them...giving them shelter...teaching them their ways and educating them in their religious doctrine...

These same people who probably once lead peaceful lives (afterall ..how can there be suicide bombers if there are no bombs?..certainly there are other ways to kill, but do i need to state the obvious?) are disenfranchised with the new order and feel trampled on by the newly found "democratic" capitalistic system...so they resort to their last option...violence...not to mention they have been fighting with the major religions in the region and feel like social outkasts of their day...

So, what happens? The same kid who was kicked in the teeth growing up over and over again by the mega rich who removed him from his home (instead of doing something responsible like relocating them with some dignity), and trampled on by the same people who are all fighting to make it in similar circumstances grows up angry...Angry at the world and angry at the current order of things...he is told by those who took him in that he will lead a righteous life in heaven. Virgins and gold will be waiting upon his arrival.

Just one task remains to be fulfilled. Send a message to those who have sought to glorify themselves on earth...The wolves in sheeps clothing. The intruders. The unrighteous. Send a message with your life. Do this and you will live in eternal peace...

Where is the blame to be placed? The kid? the religion? The extreme perversions by the single group? The ultra mega rich that helped push the kid into mental slavery? Oligarchal capitalism? Ignorant governmental leadership? Religion itself?

Where?


edit typos

[edit on 4-9-2009 by open_eyeballs]