Slumdog Millionaire Question (possible spoiler)

[frugalone]

My DH brought home Slumdog Millionaire from the library. I had avoided the movie because I heard there was something about torturing children in it. Can somebody please tell me 1) how bad is it, honestly? and 2) should I just not watch the movie?

I have gotten a stronger stomach for gore in the past few years (finally steeled myself to watch "Land of the Dead" and "No Country for Old Men") but torture is a whole different league. Esp. involving innocent children.

Thank you so much.

[puglogic]

There are two spots in the movie that you may be referring to: There are a couple of very brief scenes that involve the main character being roughed up by the police in order to get him to say that he's lying (which he's not). Not torture per se, just hitting, which is disturbing of course. There is also one short scene that strongly implies a child being maimed in order to be a more productive beggar by his "owners." It is not a long scene by any stretch of the imagination (2 minutes perhaps?), but strong & sad nonetheless. I closed my eyes during that scene, but it's important to the movie to help the viewer understand the situation many of these children find themselves in.

I too am one who cannot watch torture in film, but I loved that film enough to get past those two items. It was a brilliant, uplifting film for me.

[frugalone]

Thank you for being up front with me. At least I know what to expect now. I hope I like the movie as much as you did.

[iris lily]

I'm surprised that I didn't enjoy Slumdog Millionaire more than I did. I suppose it's because I was looking forward to it so much. I love everything about India.

There are orphan brokers in India like those portrayed in the film. When I saw that van coming to pick up the kids, I knew it wasn't good.

[frugalone]

Some of my facebook friends have said "don't see it!" And that they were disturbed by those scenes for weeks afterward. I think I had better warn my husband--he gets very upset when children are abused in films. "Memoirs of a Geisha" upset him terribly, for e.g.

[catherine]

Slumdog Millionaire is a wonderful movie--the violence is not gratuitous as all--and I have a very low threshold for that kind of thing. But it's great storytelling, great plot, great character development--everything a good movie should be and rarely is.