Slumdog Millionaire

Subject:

Instructions

Hybrid Assignment: Slumdog Millionaire 

       Danny Boyle’s 2009 film, Slumdog Millionaire, won numerous Academy Awards, including Best Motion Picture. It depicts life in Dharavi, one of the biggest slums in the world, situated outside Mumbai, India. It is a love story about hope and finding a way out of the slum.   

1. Watch Slumdog Millionaire. You can find a copy for purchase ($3.99) on YouTube, or rent it on Amazon Prime, iTunes, Google Play, or Vudu. The UK Library also has a copy (AV-D7434) in the Closed Media Stacks in B-67 Young Library.

2. Pay particular attention to the scenes set in the slums. Make a list of four scenes that feature slum life for the protagonist. What is happening in the background of each scene? Is slum life adequately portrayed? What mundane, ordinary daily activities are portrayed?

You will create a narrative about the portrayal of slums in the film, and your overall impressions about how the filmmaker chose to highlight the slum (which most Westerners have never experienced) in this important movie.

Make a list that details these four scenes, and provide a one-line description of the ordinary activities happening in the background of each scene. Please find four different scenes in which there are four differing perspectives of slum life in Dharavi.

Under this list, provide a two-sentence critique of the film. Did you like it and why? If not, why not?