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What do you think of this quote from "Slumdog Millionaire" director Danny Boyle? To be "resilient" means that someone can survive under difficult conditions. But despite Mr. Boyle's praise, some people in India are not happy about the film. Some were upset by the term "slumdog," like the protesters at right. Others think the film exploits Mumbai's slum dwellers. That means they think the film uses Mumbai's slums and their residents for gain, turning the city's poverty into entertainment because Western viewers find scenes of the slums so strange and interesting. Do you think that is true? On the left are the child actors
who play the youngest versions of Jamal, Salim, and Latika.
Two of these three actually live in Mumbai's slums. The filmmakers
are sending them to school, which many slum children do not attend,
have set up bank accounts for them for when they finish school,
and say they will provide better housing for the two families.
And the film's producers sent all of the children who played
the three main characters to Hollywood to attend the Academy
Awards. They stayed in expensive hotels, met celebrities, and
were taken to Disneyland. Can you imagine what this was like
for them? Do you understand why helping people escape poverty
can be such a complicated issue? END OF STORY.
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