Danny Boyle’s new film, Slumdog Millionaire, has emerged as the sure-thing Oscar-winning film of 2008, leaving audiences across America scratching their heads wondering just what the hype is all about.  Every once in a while, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences sends out its list of great-yet-also-popular films that give rise to big anticipation across the country. The bonus is that they also generate big ratings on Oscar night.

There’s Chariots of Fire, Platoon, Driving Miss Daisy, Unforgiven, Schindler’s List, Forrest Gump, Titanic, Gladiator, and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. All of these films were massive hits at the box office, and all of them took home the big Best Picture trophy. Others, like 2005’s Crash was a cop-out to the far superior Brokeback Mountain, which many audiences (and Academy members) shunned because of its heavy gay love content.

Slumdog Millionaire is a film about a single question that begs a much greater question. The central plot of the story revolves around Jamal Malik (Dev Patel), who was a winning contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. The prevailing inquiry is as simple as it is probing: Read more »