Slumdog Millionaire is, without question, one of the best movies I’ve seen this year. I actually felt like it was $14 well spent when Michelle and I left the movie theatre the other day and I will probably watch it on DVD when it hits the stores.
The cinematography is awesome. The story telling is awesome. The soundtrack is fabulous. And on top of all that, it also presents some interesting possibilities of God’s role in shaping our lives.
Slumdog Millionaire 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?. The catch is that Jamal, who grew up in the slums of Mumbai, is hardly the type to know the answers to the wide-variety of quiz questions. But Jamal seemingly knows the answers because of his life experiences. Why do the questions line up perfect with his life experiences? Jamal would tell you it was destiny.
For a guy who struggles with anxiety (me) – obviously a movie that tells you that everything in life is destiny is both reassuring and at the same time hard to grasp. In fact, one of my most hated phrases – especially when things were tight in seminary were, “God has a plan” and “God will provide.” Really – how? Because He’s not doing it right now…
Now don’t get me wrong – I do believe that God has a plan and that He is in control – the question is how I actually apply that information to my life or is it knowledge that has yet to translate to a heart matter – and if we are stuck in a bad spot then it’s not real reassuring that that spot is part of God’s plan.
However, the beauty of the journey is why I journal. You hear me talk about journaling a bunch and if you read here often you’ve seen posts of entries. For a guy with anxiety – I’ve got to journal because then I have a chronicle of all the highs and lows of life and how God seemingly IS faithful through it all. In going through my last two journals it just seems to make since how I landed in Norman, OK as a College Pastor at Wildwood Community Church – though there was a lot of uncertainty written between those pages along the way.
I’ve learned that God truly is in control and regardless of the situation – good or bad – we can always sit back and relax and even laugh at just knowing how it will all work out for His glory and that is good – it helps me to endure well.
Obviously the movie doesn’t attribute Jamals faith in destiny to God because it appears that Jamal is a nominal Muslim – but, regardless, I think anyone watching this movie has to have the thought go through their head about a higher power.
Jamal’s impersonal “destiny” is, of course, different from the involvement of a personal God in human lives by refusing to name a subject who created his destiny. However, I think Christians who have been obsessed with the interpretation of God’s role in personal experience—can still learn something from the wonder with which Jamal views the account of his life up to the moment of winning.
Filed under: Movie Review
