Oscar Movie Mania: Slumdog Millionaire

This may shock you, but I'm feeling rather low on righteous rage today. While I'm fairly certain that this is a direct result of not having had time today to read the news or my usual selection of blogs (class all day), I've decided to embrace this rare even-tempered mood, and detour slightly from my typical pattern of using this forum to call out things I hate (usually sexists, assholes, and/or sexist assholes.)

Instead, let's talk about a few things I do love: namely, movies, acting, and award shows. Needless to say, I just adore Oscar season. Well, that is, when I like the nominated films--last year, for example, was kind of a wash for me, since I didn't particularly care about any of the movies except Juno. And Juno, while hysterical, in my mind wasn't original or groundbreaking enough to merit an Oscar. So: didn't care.

But this year! Ah, this year. So many wonderful movies, many with amazing female performances (always a plus). I haven't seen all the nominees yet, but I'm working my way through, and so far I've thrown money at movie theaters on behalf of best picture nominees The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Milk, Slumdog Millionaire, and The Reader, as well as acting nominees Revolutionary Road, Rachel Getting Married, The Dark Knight, and Tropic Thunder. Yes, I know I am dreadfully susceptible to Hollywood's brilliant marketing scheme, but I'm just happy they're making good movies for once.

Anyway, that long-winded explanation led to my new, non-enraged feature, Oscar Movie Mania, in which I tell you whether you should bother to see these movies or not, and (hopefully) you then tell me what you thought about said movies. And then we all bet money on what will win, and then you all pay me. Clear? Good.

So, today is the day of Slumdog Millionaire.

First of all, full disclosure: this movie made me absurdly happy. Sometimes, when I get really excited about a movie (even if I'm in a theater) I crunch up my whole body in a ball in the seat and start making a crazy grinning face while putting my hands up to my face like the kid in Home Alone. I did this for almost the entirety of WALL*E, to the bemusement of the friends sitting next to me. I also had this reaction to the end of Slumdog, which may have been a little weirder, since I went to the sold-out movie alone.

This unbridled glee was the result of several factors. First, the movie is gorgeous--everything about the cinematography, even in the several incredibly brutal scenes, is simply beautiful. Second, the story, of the "one epic love undergoes hardships" variety, sucks you in, makes you emotionally invested, and then has one of those fairy tale happy endings. But the film doesn't feel frivolous--because the subject matter is often dark and painful, you really feel like you've gone on a journey with the protagonist, and so the conclusion to the story, although upon consideration fairly predictable and cliche, feels like a triumph for you as well as him.

Perhaps it comes through in this review that as I've considered the film over the past few weeks, my unequivocal love for it has tempered. It's not really groundbreaking, and the acting, while good, is nothing extraordinary. Plus I'm a little uncomfortable with the fetishization of "beautiful poor Indians" that the film, in a sense, seems to be trading in.

So, I'm not quite sure why exactly Slumdog is sweeping all the early awards (the Golden Globes, SAG Awards, etc)--unless it's that all the awards voters felt that same overwhelming sense of happiness that I did when the movie was over. And you know, I'm actually not sure I have a problem with that. Sometimes, it's good to see a movie that makes you feel good, not in a cheap, silly chick-flick way (not that there's anything wrong with that either), but in an epic sort of way. And in the end, that's why you should go see Slumdog Millionaire.