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Escaping Realities

Posted on May 21, 2010 by Ryan Salomons

Last night I finally saw Slumdog Millionaire. If you like movies I know what you are thinking. And I also can’t believe it took me so long to see it. Last night was the first time I have ever watched a movie on Blu-ray, and it was awesome!

My wife loves India. If you were to ask her where in the world she would want to go on an adventure, two countries would come to her mind, India being number one and close behind it Afghanistan. I’m not sure why those countries, but she finds tremendous beauty in the people and the culture.

I mention my wife because she was so bothered and upset last night while watching the movie. As she stared with blank eyes last night with visible angst in her heart, thoughts raced through my mind.

The thought that bothered me the most was that Jamal Malik wins the show. Now before you disagree, hear me out. If you haven’t seen the movie, Jamal Mailk grows up in the slums of Mumbai, India and ends up on India’s version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”. The reason I thought it to be sad was the fact that we are allowed to escape the realities of the first 90 minutes of the show by seeing the final 30 minutes. In the first 90 minutes, Jamal’s life is depicted in a way that would leave us wanting to hop on a plane, travel to India, and find the first orphaned kid to save. Unfortunatley the last 30 minutes leaves us to believe that out of the slums those kids will survive, get the girl and have a great life. As I shut off the t.v. last night I was haunted by the words of Jesus who said to take care of the widows and orphans. These are some of the questions that raced through my mind:

How are we able to separate reality so easily?
Why is it so easy to accept the last 30 minutes of a movie and ignore the previous 90 minutes?
If Jesus cares so much about orphans, what does He want me to do about it?

Tell me what you think.

Ryan

ryan@eaglemontchurch.ca
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