I hope this remarkable film comes to Pittsburgh. I viewed it in southern California and it should receive some Academy Award nominations.

World power and influence is drifting East, filling the vacuum left behind by the soullessness of the West. I saw "Slumdog" and the new Bond movie on the same afternoon, in the same complex. One need not say more! Bollywood is taking its rightful place in the film world, as it collaborates with a Hollywood distributor and a famous Irish director to bring this outstanding "entertainment" to the attention of the whole world.

It's rated "R" but it's an "R" for realism rather than for any language or images which are gratuitiously shocking. Having lived in Mumbai when it was Bombay, the subtitled profanity and vulgarity is a typical soft type inherited from the Brits. But what a wonderful depiction of real life in Mumbai, an up-and-coming commercial and financial power on the world stage. The story line is a "stretch," but who cares. It's just a means of presenting Indian life through the lenses of a newly-powerful Bollywood.

You'll thoroughly enjoy these refreshingly new Hindu and Muslim film stars and the myriad talents they bring to the screen. Films don't always need happy endings. But when you're India and pounding on the global door for attention and to be taken seriously in all realms of life, a happy ending just comes naturally and it says something meaningful about India and Mumbai. I feel good for India!

Sometimes the best films are the "low budget" ones with "no-name" actors that tell a timeless story and leave behind an ominous moral that we ignore at our own risk. Such is the case with "Striped Pajamas." The film features innocent children but the film is about innocence lost and it's not aimed at children, nor should it be viewed by minors under thirteen without parents first viewing it. It's not a long movie and the end creeps up on you without warning and it most certainly will cast a pall on the rest of your day or evening.

This is good because Americans distain unhappy endings in their movies. But evil is out there and must be confronted head on in our "entertainment." The Holocaust occurred and we run the risk that the next generation won't be sufficiently aware of the enormity of this event on everyone and for all time and future generations. "Good" people of all kinds were complicit with evil and collaborated with it. These stories need to be told. The results aren't pretty. Nor is the ending to this very well done film