“Slumdog Millionaire“ -
Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Madhur Mittal, Anil Kapoor, Irfan Khan

Totally deserved the Oscar sweep it made. Having been to India made this so much more real to me. It was brilliantly crafted by Director Danny Boyle. An unknown and virtual outcast wins millions on national television and how does he possibly know the answers? Well that is where the movie tells its story. Each answer is uniquely and indelibly tied to an instance many horrific in the young man’s childhood. From his mother being slaughtered by religious zealots while doing laundry one day, to his time as an orphan who is kidnapped and forced to beg for a living, to rescuing the love of his life from servitude and prostitution, all of these are how he learned the answers and takes the prize. It is an old fashioned, in many ways, feel good story. Patel has a very promising future along with his stellar supporting cast.

“The Reader” -
Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, David Cross

Okay, I really didn’t understand what all the fuss was about. I found this incredibly tragic and a bit stupid. The premise was fascinating though; a former German concentration camp female guard is brought to justice years later and in the court room is the boy, now a young man, whom she had an affair with when she was in her thirties and he still in his teens. The part that becomes so clear is that her life is entirely shaped by her illiteracy and the enormous effort she uses to conceal that. She in fact takes responsibility in court for a document she didn’t write, let alone ever read or understood for fear her secret would be known. Yes, I do agree that illiteracy is not an excuse for ignorance, abuse, or murder and she was clearly guilty of all three. I get that, I do, yet I didn’t love the film. I think while I am a fan of Winslet, I just don’t enjoy Fiennes. Ever since the English patient I have not enjoyed his performances. I think Cross did a terrific job as the young man in lust with the older woman and only uncovered her secret years later. In fact I think this movie would have been improved by a shorter timeline.