I am halfway through Slumdog Millionaire, and the poverty and torture Jamal and his brother have experienced is as bad, if not worse, than I expected. I am absolutely disgusted at how easily the general community accepts such abuse.
One of my favorite parts is seeing Jamal’s “sassy” remarks to his torturers. At one point, Jamal backs up his lucky answers with “It doesn’t take a genius to know the answers.” When one of the men in charge tries to agree saying “Yes, I knew the answer to that one,” Jamal responds, “Like I said, it doesn’t take a genius to know the answers.” I laugh at parts like this.
Other parts were heart-wrenching. After all the suffering, all the terrors, all the fighting, all the hopeless running from enemies…Jamal has seen his father burn alive, his mother beaten to death, his brother shoot another man and rape his best friend. At the eventual reunion with his brother, Jamal screams, “I will never forgive you!” I can’t blame him for a second. I ache at parts like this.
I have watched torture after torture, fight after fight. I can’t wait to see some hope- some joy in all of the terror. Things must get better from here.
