The Winner: Slumdog Millionaire.
The Other Nominees: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, and The Reader.
My Choice: I have to agree very strongly with the Academy on this one. As much as I loved and admired both Milk and The Reader, Slumdog Millionaire is just too great a movie. It has a story that allows viewers to maintain a sense of hope despite all of the dark paths that the narrative takes its lead character, Jamal, down. Despite its fairy tale romance, it manages to comment seriously on poverty and its varied effects on children. It was, from my perspective, the most technologically skillful film made last year, most notably in the areas of cinematography and editing. I loved the music, particularly the two songs that were nominated. And I thought all of the performances, especially given the tender ages of much of the main cast, were astonishingly good. When a film has all of that going for it, it deserves to be named Best Picture.
1 comment:
I suppose you're right. I favored The Reader, but I tend to vote with my heart. While Slumdog Millionare was a...cute? love story, I wasn't moved by it. I find Stephen Daldry's movies so amazing and watchable. I could watch The Hours over and over. I don't know when I'll watch SM again. I suppose I'm spoiled by Mira Nair. I could watch Salaam Bombay! a thousand times, too. Something about SM made me uncomfortable, like I was agreeing with some imperialist propaganda that I couldn't quite see or explain. I still liked it. It was very...American.
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