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{"id":1854,"date":"2008-12-24T10:06:52","date_gmt":"2008-12-24T15:06:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christandpopculture.com\/?p=1854"},"modified":"2008-12-24T10:06:52","modified_gmt":"2008-12-24T15:06:52","slug":"slumdog-millionaire-it-is-written","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2008\/12\/slumdog-millionaire-it-is-written\/","title":{"rendered":"Slumdog Millionaire: \u201cIt Is Written""},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Slumdog Millionaire<\/em> is, without question, one of the best movies I\u2019ve seen this year<\/strong>. It\u2019s well structured, the music and the cinematography blend to create an energetic, just-short-of-chaotic whole, and the acting raises the story above a mere rags-to-riches tale. It also, to me, presents some interesting possibilities about God\u2019s role in shaping human lives.<\/p>\n

Slumdog Millionaire<\/em><\/a> is centered around approximately two days in the life of Jamal Malik, a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?<\/em>. As a chaiwalla<\/em> (basically a gofer who brings tea to the workers at a telephone company\u2019s call center) who grew up in the slums of Mumbai, Jamal hardly seems the type to know the answers to the wide-ranging quiz questions. But, as even the film\u2019s trailer will tell you, Jamal\u2019s life experiences have prepared him to answer questions like \u201cWhose face is on the U.S. $100 bill?\u201d, even though he couldn\u2019t tell, if asked, whose face is on Indian currency. Chance? According to Jamal, it\u2019s \u201cdestiny.\u201d Or, as he says at another moment in the film, there\u2019s no reason behind his success other than \u201cIt is written.\u201d<\/p>\n

The very few negative reviews I\u2019ve seen of Slumdog Millionaire<\/em> critique the film\u2019s portrait of poverty, comparing it to Oliver!<\/em> or Les Mis<\/em>, in which cute little urchins sing and dance about picking pockets. Think Christian<\/a> has already written an insightful post on this topic, so instead I\u2019ll focus on how the film presents this theme of \u201cdestiny\u201d\u2014and how it compares to a Christian view of how God acts in individual lives.<\/p>\n

This theme may particularly strike me because I\u2019ve had the kind of year where, for a few months of uncertainty about my future, people seemed to enjoy telling me, \u201cGod has a plan.\u201d<\/strong> Now, I do believe that God has a plan, and that he is in control, and that we can entrust our futures to him. But, just after I\u2019ve been turned down for a job, \u201cGod has a plan\u201d is not the first thing that I want to hear. Nor do I want to be pointed to Jeremiah 29:11<\/a>. Such intended reassurances make me feel, even though I know it\u2019s not the case, that God\u2019s plan entails him willing bad things to happen to me.<\/p>\n

In retrospect, I can look back at the events of the past year and see the miraculous and intricate pattern that led to two very good jobs and a warm, pleasant relocation for my husband and me. However, rather than pointing to a specific disappointment and saying, \u201cGod allowed this to happen so that this better thing could come along,\u201d I\u2019d rather just sit back and celebrate the mystery of how God can bring good out of whatever circumstances we endure.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wisely, Slumdog Millionaire<\/strong><\/em> is structured in a way that celebrates the mystery of divine design<\/strong> (I say \u201cdivine\u201d from my perspective; Jamal seems to be a nominal Muslim, and he never attributes \u201cdestiny\u201d to the actions of God). The film begins right after Jamal\u2019s first appearance on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?<\/em>, with Jamal being interrogated by Mumbai police who believe that he must be cheating. As they replay the video of the show, question by question, we see, in flashbacks, the events that led to Jamal\u2019s knowledge of the answers. Some of the events are picaresque, involving ripping off European tourists at the Taj Mahal. Others are tragic, such as the death of Jamal\u2019s mother in an anti-Muslim riot. (Can you imagine if someone had told Jamal, at this juncture, \u201cGod has a plan\u201d?)<\/p>\n

The movie doesn\u2019t blithely assert that all these things have happened just so that Jamal could win 20 million rupees. In fact, just before giving the correct answer corresponding to something he learned the day of his mother\u2019s death, Jamal says, \u201cEvery day I wake up wishing I didn\u2019t<\/em> know the answer to that question.\u201d Slumdog Millionaire<\/strong><\/em> does not dismiss real human pain in its exploration of \u201cdestiny.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

The movie also leaves the issue of human free will up to interpretation<\/strong>. A design-less world solely based on human actions is not sufficient to explain why Jamal ends up prepared to answer the specific questions asked of him on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?<\/em>. However, Jamal\u2019s unsullied character also affects the course of his life: his devotion to finding Latika, a girl he knew as a child, motivates him to appear on the show. Noble decisions on the part of other characters also affect the course of events. (There\u2019s certainly a suggestion, though, that at least one of these noble decisions may be motivated by a renewed religious commitment, so the film also leaves open the possibility that human decisions may be divinely guided.)<\/p>\n

Jamal\u2019s impersonal \u201cdestiny\u201d is, of course, different from the involvement of a personal God in human lives\u2014note the passive voice in the phrase \u201cIt is written,\u201d refusing to name a subject who has done the writing. However, I think Christians\u2014and Protestants especially, who since the days of the Puritans have been obsessed with the interpretation of God\u2019s role in personal experience\u2014can still learn something from the wonder with which Slumdog Millionaire<\/em> views the design of our lives.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"