Slumdog Diamonds

Thanks to our field directors I saw what must rate as one of the best
movies ever: Slumdog Millionaire. They had rented the DVD, then it
turned out that Caleb accompanied Andrew to a youth group meeting the
Sunday evening before our departure from Nairobi, and the Carrs were
going out to dinner with a departing team mate . . . leaving me home
alone with a video, which is a pretty rare event in my life. I keep
thinking about the film, and why it was so gripping. Pulsating music,
clever dialogue, creative cinematography, on-the-edge-of-your-seat
plot . . .but there is more. I think that there are occasional books
and movies that open our eyes to the reality lived by billions of
humans, painful to watch, wrenching, but important. Through the movie
we are forced to imagine encountering the depths of the world's
brokenness, first hand, defenseless. Like the children who live
within a stone's throw of my house, and in villages and city slums all
over the world, facing daily raw violence and sorrowful loss. But
more than an unblinking stare into all that is wrong sets this movie
apart: there is also the movement towards redemption: love persists
in the muck, goodness pushes back evil. Like Blood Diamond we see the
relentlessly pursuing love that mirrors God's, even when the object of
that love is damaged and rejecting like we are. Highly recommended,
though be prepared that it is not for the timid. Evil can not be
ignored in this movie, but a diamond of hope emerges from the mud.