SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

rated R

ART--->***
HEART->***
MIND-->**
FUN--->**

Jamal Malik is a young boy from the slums of India, who has a shot at being the biggest winner of India’s version of the game show “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.” We follow his life as a young boy in the slums alongside his money-driven brother and a little girl named Latika. As they struggle to survive, Jamal fights to free Latika from her surroundings every chance he gets. Culminating in a spot on the Millionaire game show, Jamal’s only wish is that she will see him so they can be together.

Harsh, beautiful, disgusting and brilliant, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is the most aggressively filmed Best Picture nominee I’ve ever seen. You are immersed in a totally different environment, and become deeply aware of how this world works. Sure, with the game show element it’s a bit contrived, but if there is any love in your heart, it’s forgivable.

Despite the cruel subject matter, somehow SLUMDOG has floated to the top of the indie food chain to gain high prominence in the world of cinema. A win for this movie would be the perfect real-life storybook ending to parallel the film’s narrative.

Remember the harrowing scenes in the slums. Embrace the connection between Malik and Latika. Get swept up in the film's power to engage at every step. In the end, it’s a love story where God or Fate intervenes in the most desperate of circumstances and life is redeemed.

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is Recommended.
(for older teens and adults. NOT, I repeat, NOT for children.)

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THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS WERE MADE WONDERFULLY IRRELEVANT LAST NIGHT AT THE OSCARS. THEY WILL BE KEPT ON THIS PAGE AS A MONUMENT TO MY OPINIONS AT THE TIME, AND A TESTIMONY TO MY OVERWHELMING HAPPINESS THAT I WAS WRONG. THE ACADEMY SAW "Milk" AS THE POLEMIC IT WAS, GAVE AWARDS TO THE WRITER AND ACTOR SO THEY COULD MAKE THEIR LITTLE SPEECHES, BUT ULTIMATELY CROWNED "Slumdog Millionare" BEST PICTURE. AND DESERVEDLY SO.

Posted the week prior to the Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday, February 22:

----WARNING---Bitter Diatribe ahead---WARNING---

Despite the cruel subject matter, somehow SLUMDOG has floated to the top of the indie food chain to gain high prominence in the world of cinema. A win for this movie would be the perfect real-life storybook ending to parallel the film’s narrative.

Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen. These are the Oscars, after all. And while this powerful, disturbing, tragic and momentous tale of love-conquers-all is prime Oscar Bait, the Academy will see it differently. They will laud SLUMDOG for its artistic merits alone, and crown another film with the top prize.

You see, the Oscars have abandoned the pure and true appreciation of art in cinema and have gone full-bleed political. Blue blood will paint over that old red carpet until their agenda is pressed to the hilt. Anything that's edgy, wrong, or vile, anything that pushes the envelope of acceptability, will be rewarded. And the two biggest boundary-breaking films this year are THE READER and MILK. Now since THE READER stinks as a film and is just an actor’s showcase...

That leaves MILK to win Best Picture, hands down.

Why? Because it screams Hollywood’s ideals to all the earth.

Look, MILK may actually be a fine cinematic accomplishment, well acted, superbly directed, strongly written, sharply lensed, and seamlessly edited. Or not. It doesn’t matter. MILK is the poster child for Hollywood. It will win because it is meant to win.

So, what realistically does that leave for SLUMDOG?
It should win for Cinematography. It might win for editing. But that’s it.

Forget the harrowing scenes in the slums. Deny the connection between Malik and Latika. Ignore the film's power to engage at every step. In the end, it’s a love story where God or Fate intervenes in the most desperate of circumstances and life is redeemed. That’s what truly makes it a “foreign” love story to the Academy, not its Mumbai, India locale.

So, unfortunately, SLUMDOG'S young hearts full of hope will be crushed under the heels of the Hollywood Political Machine. Get out of the way, kids. We’re marching here.

AGAIN, THANK GOD I WAS WRONG.
MOVING ON.