SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

Slumdog Millionaire is hard to watch in a couple of places - so I'll just warn you what they are and you can close your eyes. SPOILERS follow: - The main character is tortured with car battery electricity to find out how he supposedly cheated in the "How to be a Millionaire" TV show, and a child is deliberately blinded so that he can earn more money singing as a blind begger (too horrible for me to watch).

Other than that, the story is fascinating. If there is such a thing as "destiny", this is a film about destiny, about how the life experiences (survival experiences actually) of a man from the slums of India enable him to answer questions that will make him very wealthy in his country. It is also a love story that endures from childhood, a love that gives him hope, a goal, and a purpose.

The characters are richly drawn, the story is beautifully told, and it well deserved the Oscar for Best Picture.