First, read what triggered this
I've seen and heard a lot of commentary about Slumdog Millionaire, and while I didn't care much for the movie myself, I feel obliged to say something. First, why I didn't think the movie was great - the same reason I don't like most Bollywood movies, more masala and less harsh realism¹ than I would have liked. Now, on to what people say:- (caution, spoilers ahead)
Insulting India
This is a favourite. Some people who should know better claimed that whole sections of the movie seemed to be aimed at disgracing Indians and making us look like beggars, thieves and people who leech off the white man. To these people I would say, stop identifying so strongly with your nationality, or with the colour of your skin. I have seen people pick-pocketed in temples, seen slippers stolen outside historic buildings and read signs warning of scammers on our trains. These things happen², and if I were to make a movie about poverty I would mention them. There is no reason to whitewash our own society.
Interestingly, while I found the scene with the Americans and the Mercedes highly amusing (and the joke was on the Americans in that scene, IMO), others found it insulting. Do I have a perverse sense of humour, or am I able to see a bunch of poor children con some "deprivation tourists"? And the punchline, oh the punchline, "Well, this is the American Way." « Out come a sheaf of bills! Problem Solved! » Ha ha. Hilarious.
And that is where everyone else fails in this particular argument. They object to Slumdog Millionaire because it portrays us in a negative light, ignoring the fact that it does so because such treatment is deserved. I sit in a cosy middle class home myself, I drink my Real fruit juice (apricot flavour) and eat my apples (Fuji, imported from China) while writing this very post. But I do know the truth - the vast majority of Indians do not live in my peaceful world, today some will have starved because they could not find enough work to pay for food, and some will still be working (often at risk of life and limb) because that's the only way they can feed their children, and as many will simply die for want of medical care that every civilised nation can and must provide its citizens for free. I harbour no illusions about this country. And I think no one should.
I have heard many people my own age frequently say that they care less what people think about them and more what they actually do³. Thanks to the release of Slumdog Millionaire I can safely say that this is not true.
Pornographing Poverty
A popular term in the media seems to be the term 'poverty porn'. What I think this particular criticism means is that the movie has made poverty into a spectacle, something to watch, possibly to mesmerise, horrify, guilt-trip foreign audiences. This is less a criticism of the movie, and more a criticism of the people. In many ways Slumdog Millionaire did show the side of Mumbai that no one likes to imagine exists. People do wash clothes in that water, children do play there, the (paved) streets of the slums are covered with vegetable slush and people do live crushed together. If, seeing all this, you cannot genuinely feel some degree of pity for these people (not necessarily backed with dollar notes), then you must be inhuman. Perhaps the makers intended to make a spectacle of the incredibly humiliating routines these people must live in, but so what?
The only reasonable fear I can think of is that movies like these might overwhelm the human mind, either in a way analogous to disaster fatigue or in the sense that the obstacle seems insurmountable. Otherwise, where is the harm in allowing observation of the incredible depths to which we have let our fellow men fall?
¹ My favourite movie of all time has to be The Bicycle Thief. ² And they happen abroad too. You're probably more likely to have your pocket picked on the Paris metro than on the one in Calcutta. ³ I may have said so myself, in the past, but it is not true. I do care very much what people think. It's just that I weight these opinions very differently (from what I can see).