Who wants to be.... a millionnaire???

The success of Slumdog Millionaire has been fantastic, not only for the British film industry and arguably our best director, Danny Boyle, but also in demonstrating the fusion that can be possible between western cinema and other cultures.

However, the film has also garnered criticism from Indian and British commentators, mostly for the treatment of the extras and the child stars. The producers have been at pains to point out their treatment of the children. They got paid a very decent sum (3x the average adult wage) as well as the establishing of a school and a trust fund set up for when they complete their education. I can't fault the producers efforts to make sure they have treated the children well, but does this not have undertones of western hectoring?

Did Steven Spielberg provide the same scheme for Drew Barrymore in ET, her troubles throughout her teenage years prove that she was not well cared for after being thrust into the limelight. Did the cast of Bugsy Malone have trust funds set up? Gary Coleman is now a security guard after being the best paid child actor in the US, and whatever happened to Rolo from Grange Hill??

Child stardom brings about various pitfalls, but rarely do producers get criticised for giving starlets the opportunity.

Why do we feel that Slumdog have to do this, do we feel that the actors family's cannot be trusted (Gary Coleman sued his parents for taking his salary)?

If the producers have paid a good wage, which few people can argue they did not do, then what further duty of care do they owe?

The makers of Borat royally screwed the local inhabitants of Glod, paid an alleged £3 for their humiliation,a derisory figure. But, Slumdog did not.

In the future, when plucking a select few lucky locals for extra work, what should filmmakers do? This scheme has set a precedent, but shouldn't missionary work should be left to charities? Filmmakers should concentrate on just that, film-making. The liberal intelligentsia should not expect producers to improve the community of foreign countries, we don't expect that when filming is done in poor communities in the US or UK.

As it stands, I think Danny Boyle has down a wonderful thing for those children, a lucky pluck from the crowd has changed those 6 kids lives forever, I'm sure in a positive way, but we should not look down our noses at other communities in an inverted snobbish manner, that, for me, is more insulting than anything Slumdog has done.

James

(BTW, the lack of posting in the past few days is due to a well earned holiday, not through disappointment that I haven't turned into Iain Dale overnight)