Looking at the 2008 Best Picture nominations you would guess that there were not many good movies that year. There was no movies that I absolutely loved out of the five nominated. I think Slumdog Millionaire was the best out of the nominated movies but Milk was also a very good movie. Slumdog Millionaire is about a lower class kid Jamal (Dev Patel) from the slums of India who goes on a “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” and is doing really well so the authorities think he is cheating. During the interrogation he explains how he has come to know the answers to some of the questions. The movie flashes back and forth between the game show, the interrogation, and his past. His past is filled with violence and after his mother is killed he runs away with his brother Salim where they meet an orphaned girl Latika. The three become very close and Jamal develops a crush on Latika. After being taken in by a group of thieves they are forced to beg on the streets for money. When Jamal and Salim are able to escape Latika doesn’t make it and is forced to stay behind. As the years pass Jamal doesn’t forget about Latika and when he is older he sets out to find her again. When they try to rescue her from the gang that has her Salim shoots and kills the boss. Then Salim joins a rival gang and wants Latika as his own and kicks Jamal out. After many years of wondering what happened to the both of them Jamal finally seeks out his brother and Latika. Thinking the only way he can get Latika back is to make money he goes on the game show hopping she is watching.
Danny Boyle's rapid editing and great storytelling really add the intensity to a movie that is ultimately a love story about a guy on a game show. What could have been a boring story really was exciting. What was unexpected was the mount of violence in the movie. Especially the beginning you think you walked into the wrong movie as they torture Jamal trying to figure out how he is cheating. What I love about the story is how it shows random things in someone’s life can lead to a wealth of knowledge. And the kids in the movie really do a good job. Since half the movie is flashbacks they needed to be good so the love story was believable. This is another movie where the ensemble cast is better than individuals which is one of the reasons this became only the 11th movie to win Best Picture without having any acting nominations although I think Dev Patel should have been nominated. The movie won 8 Awards out of its 10 nominations including Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Editing. It also won Best Song for Jai Ho a Bollywood dance number at the end of the movie.
The movie that had the biggest spotlight on it going into the Oscars was The Curious Case of Benjamin Button which had 13 nominations. My least favorite David Fincher movie (Seven and Fight Club are my favorite), the big budget love story about a guy aging backwards ended up winning only 3 awards. It was the smallest number of awards won by any movie that had that many nominations.
The biggest story that year was not about what movies were nominated for Best Picture but the movies that were not nominated. The biggest outcry came because one of the biggest movies of the year and most well reviewed movie The Dark Knight was left off the Best Picture and Best Director lists. It did have 8 nominations in mostly technical awards but did win get Best Supporting Actor win for Heath Ledger in his last major role. The omission of The Dark Knight was mostly viewed as snub against superhero movies but did cause the Academy to change their rules for the following year when they increased the Best Picture nominations to 10 movies. A movie that got 5 nominations and 4 acting nominations but no Best Picture or Director nominations was Doubt. The acting in Doubt just blew me away and the story was just captivating. It was one of Meryl Streep’s best performances and her record 15 acting nomination and I think she should have won. Going toe to toe with her was Phillip Seymour Hoffman who we never know if he is good or bad and when they are both in the room together you just feel like you are watching something special. The last movie that very few people saw but everyone that did thinks it did get nominated for Best Picture was Gran Torino. With great acting by Clint Eastwood and a story that is dark and hard to watch but very good.
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