The Justice

And yet, looking back, perhaps Slumdog's victory should not have been such a surprise. To be sure, the film is undoubtedly excellent, a deserving winner and one of the best (though perhaps not the best) films of Boyle's impressive directorial career. However, Slumdog also had something else going for it: It was a film that, though not American, managed to draw upon the current American consciousness better than any American film this year. While Hollywood busied itself with reexamining American suburbia for the hundredth time (Revolutionary Road) and adapting Tony-award winning plays (Doubt and Frost/Nixon), Slumdog was a small film made in India that tapped into the collective and undeniable optimism the country is feeling in the wake of Obama's election. While it would be silly to claim Slumdog only won because Obama won, there is a definite sense to which the Academy's choices reflect the goings-on of their particular political era. Likewise, Slumdog's story of orphan children struggling each and every day to scrape together money and food gained added significance in light of the recent economic collapse.

In this sense, it is little surprise that The Dark Knight, the film everyone was shocked did not get nominated for Best Picture, was shut out from the major awards save for Heath Ledger's preordained Oscar win for Best Supporting Actor. While six months ago, with George W. Bush still in office and the world seeming to come unhinged before our eyes as our economy collapsed, The Dark Knight's extremely gloomy look at the world seemed to reflect the murky world of 2008. Somehow by the time the Oscars had come around, things had shifted and "hope" was the buzzword everyone was talking about-not the anarchic visions of society The Dark Knight so gleefully presents. It is for this reason that Slumdog Millionaire's victory was perhaps so inevitable, for Slumdog is the perfect Oscars film for America today; hopeful, with a focus that extends far beyond our borders while managing to have a love story that was accessible to all.

And, while this particular win may not signal a shift for the Oscars in future Best Picture races, at least for one year the Academy seems to have gotten it right.

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