Slumdog Millionaire - M

Trey and I decided to watch every Academy award winner for best picture, in backwards order. So, we began with the 2008 film, Slumdog Millionaire. I knew absolutely nothing about this movie going in. Once I realized that it was going to be a bunch of flashbacks in the main character Jamal's life, I began to think it was going to suck. I thought that some parts were very hard to understand what they were saying because of the Indian accents.

I felt myself getting more and more into the storyline as it progressed. Once I found out WHO the men were that had "taken" Jamal and were questioning him, things started to make sense for me. One of my favorite scenes was when the WWTBAM host leaves a B on the mirror in the bathroom. I liked seeing it play out where Jamal answers D, and the host keeps trying to make sure that he doesn't want to go with B instead. I loved when the movie caught up to the present, and the excitement builds as Jamal goes for the final question.

The actors who played Jamal, Salim, and Latika as adults were all very good. I joked with Trey that Salim looked like a young Michael Jackson with his curls and his sunglasses. What I loved most about Slimdog was definitely the cinematography. The director did an amazing job finding a way to make the rundown dirty slums of Mumbai look so beautiful. Several of the shots just looked like a piece of art, and I really liked the camera angles that he used. The colors were so vivid, and the use of lighting was perfection (especially in the final scene where Jamal and Latika kiss). Another hit in my book was the musical score. It really worked well in building the intensity of some of the chase scenes, and I loved how it was hip and modern music, yet it still had the Indian flair to it. Jai Ho!!

Do I think it deserved best picture? That's a tough one, since I have not seen any of the other movies that were nominated for the award last year. I would like to think that is does, just because it was so different from all of the other films that Hollywood has been putting out lately. I think it definitely stands out.