Slumdog Millionaire

Jamal Malik, an 18-year-old orphan from Mumbai, is a contestant on the Indian version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" With each question that Jamal is asked, the audience is given a look back at his childhood in the slum where he and his brother Salim grew up, of their adventures together, of cruel encounters with local gangs, and of Latika, the love of his life. It is these life experiences that Jamal draws on for the answers to the game show questions. However, when the show's host suspects Jamal of cheating, he is arrested and forced to admit that there is no way a "slumdog" is capable of answering all of the questions correctly and winning the grand prize of 20 million rupees.

The fact that Slumdog Millionaire won the Oscar for best film pretty much says it all. It is a tough and heartbreaking film and at the same time, an exhilarating and heartwarming one. While every aspect of the film might not be completely credible, it does give us an idea of the condition and culture of India's slums, something that is rarely brought to the world's attention. I am especially fond of how subtle the flashbacks used to tell Jamal's life story are.

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The Reader

The Reader takes place in Germany in the late 1950's. The story revolves around a 15-year-old boy named Michael Berg who has an affair with Hanna Schmitz, a woman twice his age. Decades after Hanna disappears and the affair ends, Michael, now a law student, finds himself sitting in on Hanna's war-crime trial. Hanna's dark past shocks Michael as he realizes that despite the love he had for her, he never really knew who she was.

Kate Winslet's performance in this film was undoubtedly Oscar-worthy. She absolutely nailed the dark, withdrawn and unremorseful personality of Hanna Schmitz. The movie, deep and at times, perverse, opens the audience's eyes to the idea that the Jews were not the only victims of the Holocaust. The entire German people were also affected by the evil that were the Nazi's.

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Milk

Milk takes place in San Francisco in the 1970's during the rise of the Gay Pride movement. An openly gay man, Harvey Milk moves from New York to California with his lover and pursues politics, specifically a position on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Harvey Milk succeeds in becoming the first openly gay man to be voted into public office in the United States in 1977. His constant fight for equal human rights made Milk a hero for homosexuals and Americans alike.

Milk serves not only as a powerful political film but as a tale of personal victory as well. I love the message that the film sends to the audience: do not be afraid to fight for what you believe in. Sean Penn does an outstanding job in portraying this inspirational and captivating character.

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Frost/Nixon

Frost/Nixon takes place after Richard Nixon's 1974 resignation. He shys away from the public scene and interaction with the media until 1977, when David Frost, a talk show host, convinces and pays Nixon to do a sequence of TV interviews. While Frost views the event as an opportunity to prove his skills as a journalist, the shamed Richard Nixon sees the interviews as a chance to restore his political image.

What I loved most about this movie was without a doubt the acting. Frank Langella and Michael Sheen do not just play the characters of Richard Nixon and David Frost, but completely embody them. These actors really made the personalities of the historical figures come to life. It is incredible to me that a movie about a series of interviews could be so entertaining.

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The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is the story of a man who's life begins at the end of World War I in the body of an 80-year-old man. As time passes, Benjamin finds that he is becoming physically younger, but at the same time, wiser and more experienced as he ages. As a young teenager (still physically an old man), Button meets Daisy, who he falls in love with over the years as they grow closer together in physical age.

While the love that grows between Benjamin and Daisy over the course of their lives is heartwarming, it was not enough to make this movie an Oscar winner. The idea of losing the love of your life to a physical aging in reverse is deep and sad, but I expected more from a movie with such an interesting and unusual concept. Overall, I found the movie to be too long, too slow, and too boring.

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