It would take the hardest of hearts not to root for Jamal and Latika after all they’ve been through.  Extreme poverty, torture, unsurpassed cruelty, betrayal on a scale few humans can imagine.  Few Westerners anyway.  Jamal’s love for Latika is clearly genuine; he has gone to the ends of the earth to find and protect her, and he has risked his own safety many times in the process.  We suspect the number of people wiling to do that may be few and far between.

Nevertheless, at the risk of being called hard-hearted ourselves, we have to question the longevity potential of this relationship.  Jamal and Latika have been to hell and back; their entire lives have been filled with constant turmoil, strife and stress.  How do they abruptly switch from that to the quiet routine of domesticity?  We suspect it will be far more challenging than they think.

Furthermore, this is a couple that is sure to have some issues to deal with.  For starters she slept with his brother, never mind the circumstances.  Sooner or later that is bound to rear its ugly head.  On top of that Latika has spent most of her life being abused.  We’re not psychoanalysts but we’ve seen enough Lifetime movies to know that most women in that situation continue seeking out abusive partners.  Latika must be eternally grateful to Jamal for rescuing her not just once but twice from the horrors of her life, yet we wonder how long it will be before she starts to crack and turns to some other outlet to deal with her scars. Or simply finds Jamal to be just too nice.  Furthermore both seem like clear cases of arrested development due to their circumstances and the idea of them living together seems more like playing house.

Finally, we can’t help but notice that he’s somewhat of a nerdy match for someone of her unsurpassed beauty.  We can certainly see his attraction to her but we wonder if hers to him  will extend beyond gratitude.

Of course, being us, we still can’t help but hope that things turn out differently.  We do see genuine affection and have no doubt that these two love each other.  God knows they deserve a happy ending.  Things should at least start off well and the fact that he’s just won a million dollars can’t hurt.  We can’t dismiss our reservations but we think there is some potential there.  We definitely see pitfalls ahead, but with some effort they might make it work.

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