Release Year: 2008

Genre: Drama, Romance

Director: Danny Boyle

Writer: Simon Beaufoy, Vikas Swarup (book)

Stars: Dev Patel, Freida Pinto

You shouldn't need to ask the audience to determine why Slumdog Millionaire is considered one of the defining films of the 21st Century. (It's not just because it nabbed a Best Picture Oscar… and seven other Oscars besides.)

You shouldn't need to use the 50/50 lifeline to figure out how Slumdog Millionaire broke box office records worldwide. (It's not just because it has the best soundtrack since Pulp Fiction.)

We guess you can phone a friend to talk more about this movie… but that's really up to you.

Just like the city in which it takes place, Slumdog Millionaire is full to bursting with sound, color, culture, and dramatic juxtaposition. (Yup: Slumdog Millionaire does not take place in Bridgeport, Connecticut.)

This flick runs the gamut of comedy, drama, melodrama, thriller, and romance, exploring issues from poverty and social status to destiny, morality, forgiveness, and love. It tackles crime, and corruption, wealth and power.

And—oh yeah: it also explores one man's backstory while he's being tortured by the cops, while he's a contestant on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. How much more nail-bitingly intense can you get?

Through each question on the show, we learn a new piece of protagonist Jamal Malik's fascinating past, piecing together the puzzle of his incredible life story as he goes from being an orphan in the Mumbai slums to a rich man who wins the heart of the love of his life.

Of course, this story has its gritty side—but you probably figured that out from the key phrases "tortured by the cops," "being an orphan," and "Mumbai slums." The film pulls no punches exploring the realities of slum life, in its staggering poverty, corruption, hardship, and heartbreak.

But at the end of the day, Slumdog Millionaire is not a story of despair and hopelessness. Instead it's a tale of resilience. It's empowering and uplifting… and super-crazy romantic.

In many ways Slumdog can be seen as a Dickens novel for the 21st Century, a rousing rags-to-riches tale for a multicultural, globalizing world.

And it's also a testament to our world changing for the better. Now that Hollywood isn't just only interested in stories about white kids who live in Western countries (although we've got a looong way to go before we get enough POC representation), movies like Slumdog can be made, succeed wildly… and force ear-worms like the Oscar-winning "Jai Ho" into our daily shower-singing regimen.

Slumdog Millionaire is no stranger to accolades. It cleaned up at the Oscars in 2009, winning eight total awards from Best Picture all the way down to sound mixing.

It's been praised by audiences and critics alike, from all over the world, as an inspiring, heartfelt, and extremely well crafted film. It has been no slouch financially either, grossing over $378 million—or about 25 billion Indian rupees—since its release.

But the most important reason to care about Slumdog Millionaire has—weirdly enough—less to do with what people love about this film, and more about all the controversy it stirred up.

Here are a few of the big issues:

1. This movie's depiction of poverty has been seen as stale and insensitive, leaning on old clichés while failing to capture the pride and dignity of actual slum residents. (Source)
2. Some view the film as a form of "slum tourism," or "poorism," where from the safety of their living rooms, Western viewers can vacation in the lives of the slum dwellers for a couple hours, while still making it back in time for dinner. (Source)
3. Slumdog Millionaire has been critiqued as "poverty porn," in which the very real, very troubling experiences of those living in poverty are simplified and glamorized to fit the "feel-good" tone of the film. (Source)
4. This flick was written, directed, and produced by a bunch of British people—people from, you know, the ex-Empire that colonized India for almost a hundred years. And yet Slumdog Millionaire is perhaps the best known "Indian" film in the Western world. Um. That ain't right, right? Is Hollywood guilty yet again of cultural appropriation, exploiting another culture for the sake of turning a nice profit?

But…

And that "but" is where the question "Why Should I Care" gets answered…or at least complicated. Because there's a rebuttal for each of those talking points listed above.

Check it out:

1. Is this film's depiction of poverty insensitive, or is it humanizing? After all, the Big Bads of the movie are the people who are raking in the cash, either by being slumlords or hosts on swanky game shows.
2. This film can be seen as "slum tourism," but isn't it important to bring views of the wider world into the living room? How else are average Middle American moviegoers going to get a virtual peep into Mumbai slums?
3. It's beneficial for people to see poverty depicted on the silver screen, even if this movie does end with a happy dance number. Slumdog can be seen as medicine served with a spoonful of sugar—the audience gets the sweetness of romance and Bollywood glitz, even while it learns about grinding destitution.
4. Yeah, Danny Boyle's a Brit. But he used his superstar director status to make a movie about a side of life rarely explored in Hollywood. He's not Indian, but the success of Slumdog Millionaire probably turned a lot of Bollywood-ignorant people onto the awesomeness of Indian cinema and paved the way for Indian films to get increased attention.

Phew.

We know: that's a lot of issues. That's a lot of controversy. And hey—that's the point. This is a controversial film, which is exactly why you should care. And you should also care about the big controversial questions it poses.