Slumdog Millionaire and the Real "Street Kids"

Yesterday the Academy Award nominations were announced, and Slumdog Millionaire, the sleeper hit filmed in the slums of Mumbai, India, received 10 nominations. I never thought I'd see the day that a film about street kids - portrayed with both harsh realism and fairy-tale redemption - would become a mainstream hit.

Having known real "street kids", and kept in touch with some of them into adulthood (they too are on Facebook!), I loved the characters of Jamal and Latika, but did not find them entirely convincing. Jamal is wide-eyed and innocent, a pure soul, which is not what I've seen in kids who've been orphaned and on the streets since the age of seven. The movie makes a decent argument that his more wily brother has shielded and protected him for most of his life, but I doubt he could have shielded him entirely. The complete lack of sexual exploitation or drug use was also hard to believe, but their manipulation by ganglords using them to beg for money completely resonated with what I've seen and heard abroad. I hope those scenes will make Westerners traveling to 3rd world countries think twice before giving begging children money instead of food or clothing - you're essentially giving cash to gangsters.

The character that stood out for me the most is Salim, the older brother. A case could be made for him being either the hero or the villain of the story. He does some evil, heartless things, sometimes to protect himself and his brother, sometimes out of naked ambition, always in order to survive and climb the food chain. Something a gangster told him about being a big man has stuck with him since he was a little boy. With any semblance of a normal childhood removed, he has learned to operate on a different playing field. He is the most like the street kids I've come to know. Kids who've had terrible things done to them, and done terrible things to others, usually in that order. Kids who have become bad news, but on some level never forget the difference between right and wrong, between what was supposed to be and what happened instead. For all of his bad deeds, Salim makes sure Jamal is able to escape to a better life.

Some of the real kids I've met are brooding, depressed types, others brash and mischievous. Some are extremely needy for love and attention; others are suspicious and distant. Some have been able to hold down jobs since reaching adulthood, and others have not. All are human beings who've had to survive incredible circumstances, and deserve a chance to have their stories told.

a young Jamal still believes that life is beautiful