The Academy Awards took place in the end of February. There were some obvious winners that everyone knew would take home the little gold guy, but there were also some surprises...for instance, the winner of the award to end all awards: Best Picture.
I'd never even heard of this movie until I looked at the nominees for the Academy Awards. I was a little mad that this movie from Bollywood, that almost didn't even make it to theatres, had taken away a Best Picture slot from The Dark Knight. In my opinion, The Dark Knight had made the most impact on the culture for the past year, and deserved to at least get nominated. But I decided not to completely write off Slumdog, and went to go see it today.
And I have to say...it impressed me, even though I went in with high standards. The movie is basically what the title says. Jamal, an 18-year-old slumdog from India, enters as a contestant on the Indian version of “Who Wants to Be A Millionaire?”, hoping that his true love, Latika, will see him and come find him. Jamal gets all the answers, despite the fact that he is uneducated. And of course, they think he is cheating. Turns out, he’s not. Jamal knew all the answers because of different life experiences he’s had, and he begins to recall them all as he is tortured and interrogated.
I have not agreed with the past few years of the Oscar winners for Best Picture. For the first time in a while, I am okay with the one they chose. It was refreshing to have a “hero” in a movie that actually had a moral code. Jamal was a good guy. It was nice to have a main character that didn’t look like he’d just stepped out of a Hollister ad, one that stuttered when he talked, one that quietly defended his honor as others mocked him, one that, though he had seen many terrible things, was still apalled every time the human race did something violent. And, he also had a pure, chaste childhood love that he’d do anything to be with and protect. That gets me every time.
[Spoiler Alert]
Slumdog is pretty violent, but not unnessessarily. And unlike most Best Pictures, this one has a happy ending; Jamal and Latika find each other and suddenly break out into an energetic Indian techno dance, with the help of random extras in the background. I definitely didn’t see that one coming.
It's amazing how the movie Slumdog Millionaire parallels its own success in Hollywood.
That's one movie I have yet to see. I was going to see it the other day, but went to Gran Torino instead (very good movie!). I heard that it was really good, but I still have to see it to judge.
ReplyDeleteI think it's pretty amazing that this movie, which was supposedly not very good made the Best Picture award. I also did like The Dark Knight. It wasn't my favorite movie, but was good.
Wow, I'm really impressed with that movie. I had no idea that that was what it was about. Now that I know i'd be much more inclined to watch it.
ReplyDeleteI recently read about the actors involved in the movie and the kind of environment they really come from and I can understand why they did such a good job. In the movie they play people who live in the Slums of India and in real life some of the actors actually do.