Slumdog Millionaire

I saw above film in London in January and have been wanting to write a word or two about it ever since.
It was advertised as "the feel-good movie of the year" but by the time I left the cinema I felt as though I had seen "the feel-bad movie of the year"!
Contrary to many viewers and critics I really disliked this film.
Since when is poverty amusing entertainment?
Since when is violence fun to watch?
Okay I must confess at this point that I was the small girl who when watching Charlie Chaplin cried inconsolably and felt horribly sorry for CC. I preferred Buster Keaton.
I was also the small girl who had night-mares for years after I had seen Guernica and a bullfight in Barcelona was my idea of sheer and utter horror. I had night-mares for so long after and day-mares.
Take the film Slumdog Millionaire by Danny Boyle, so the story is pretty straightforward and predictable. The style of telling his life story through the questions he is asked is fine, a common device going from the end through the past and ending up at the end again. Still the questions as chapters was a nice touch. The actor was very very good I agree.
BUT the film was filled with gratuitous violence, doses of romance, humour at the expense of the less fortunate, adrenalin rushes, suspense...is that what makes a great film? It is formula and it is boring and manipulative and condescending.
My greatest criticism is that despite a fairly simple story and a cast of characters they managed to turn out two-dimensional; cardboard cut-outs racing around Bombay.
Film is an amazing medium and when used well it can open doors and windows and it can change how we experience life, it can make us think and question and feel.
I look forward to sharing those films with you!