Bryce Zabel's MOVIE SMACKDOWN!

Slumdog Millionaire (2008) -vs- The Reader (2008)

 The Populist and the Outsider 

The Smackdown. Both "Slumdog Millionaire" and "The Reader" seemingly deal with a country and a people's crimes toward humanity. Whether the abject poverty and destructive caste system of India or the German struggle with guilt and ultimate responsibility for the Holocaust, it is at heart what each film is using as background for very personal and disturbing stories.

It's virtually impossible to objectively determine if one nominated film is "better" than another based on production values and performances because, for the most part, all are at a sophistcated and rigorously professional level beyond reproach. So one has to find another set of values to judge by and that's most likely one's emotional and intellectual connection to the film and its power to force either or both to clash internally. So it is with "Slumdog Millionaire" and "The Reader"; both nominated for Best Picture, one a seeming lock and the other a long shot; one a highly emotional ride of familiar and predictable proportions; the other a joyless ride of suppression and fear totally unfamiliar and unpredictable. So what is it that bonds these two films as bastard siblings and why does one inhabit your psyche refusing to let go and the other fade like a great one night stand with notable style and suspect substance?

The Favorite. "Slumdog Millionaire" tells, by now, the apparently simple story of an 18 year old orphan from the slums of Mumbai who wins 200 million rupees on India's version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire". But on the night before he actually wins, he's kidnapped and forced to explain to local officials, who believe he has cheated, how exactly a "slumdog" like him could possibly be so intelligent and answer so difficult (not) a series of questions. This sets the framework for us to experience the formative years of the young man in question, jamal malik, and to discover how, in the depths of poverty, crime and personal horror, he has managed to come up with the right answers to so complicated questions (not!) and to literally, stay alive. Set in flashback, we are brought on a journey of enormous ethical and emotional proportions all pointing to his ability to convince the authorities of his ultimate innocence and to get his one chance at that great equalizer, cash, and its promise - freedom of want.

Slumdog Millionaire (2008) -vs- The Kite Runner (2007)

Rising Above Expectations

The Smackdown.  Childhood friendships can last a lifetime and have profound consequences. Both "Slumdog Millionaire" and "The Kite Runner" tell sweeping stories in the lives of two boys -- a set of brothers in the former and a set of friends who act like brothers in the latter. They use narratives that cut back-and-forth across time, forcing them to use multiple sets of actors to portray their characters as boys turn to men. The contemporary storylines are deepened by the children's experiences we see in flashback.  Both films started as novels, force viewers (English-speaking ones anyway) to read a few sub-titles and share settings -- India and Afghanistan -- that have been scarred by terrorism as deeply as the United States. And even though "Slumdog Millionaire" is probably going to get an Oscar nomination this year, it's still going to have to hold off "The Kite Runner" to win this Smackdown...

The Challenger.  "Slumdog Millionaire" feels like it's giving you an authentic slice of life in the real India.  As directed by Danny Boyle from a screenplay by Simon Bradley based on a novel by Vikas Swarup, it tells the story of Jamel, an impoverished orphan from the slums of Mumbai who, as the film begins, is amazingly winning on the Indian version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" against all the odds.  He's being accused of cheating because nobody can believe a petty thief with his background could possibly know what he knows.  And there's the cheat which isn't a cheat at all.  Flashbacks reveal exactly how hard-won the knowledge is that is allowing him to become a sensation.  His story is embellished by his on-going relationship with his equally adept survivor brother Salim and the improbable romance with a girl named Latika.

Black Book (2007) -vs- Europa, Europa (1990)

Editor's Note:  A lot of people are probably thinking about Nazis lately, given that Tom Cruise's "Valkyrie," Daniel Craig's "Defiance," and Kate Winslet's "The Reader" are all in release. Here's an earlier Smackdown of two foreign films that tackle Nazism from the inside-out.

Love in the Time of Fascism

The Smackdown. It's the ultimate identity crisis. You have to pretend to be a part of a group that wants to kill everybody in the group you're really in.  That's the jeopardy that two foreign language films (both supposedly based on true stories) place their lead characters in.  Both "Black Book" and "Europa, Europa" put Jewish characters in the agonizing peril of having to pass as Nazis in order to stay alive during World War II. Each one wants to raise the question about what's acceptable behavior in order to survive and what a person is willing to risk in order to strike back at a hated enemy. If you start to act like them, do you run the risk of becoming the thing you hate the most? 

The Challenger. Director Paul Verhoeven has gone back to his roots with this World War II film set in occupied Holland. He started there a quarter of a century ago with "Soldier of Orange" but took a long strange detour with films like "Total Recall," "Basic Instinct" and, yes, "Showgirls." He's got plenty of sex and violence in this tale about Rachel Stein, a young Jewish woman who survives the holocaust by adapting whenever and however necessary. She's played by the phenomenal Dutch actress Carice van Houten. After losing her family from a betrayal that leads to their death by machine gun fire, she joins the Resistance and finds her most important work to be the seduction of the head of the Gestapo in The Hauge, a sensitive Nazi-type named Ludwig Mantze. He's plahyed by my favorite German actor, Sebastian Koch, who stole the show in last year's "The Lives of Others."

Australia (2008) -vs- The Castle (1999)

David and Goliath Down Under

The Smackdown. I love Australia. I love their cute marsupials and their adorable accents. I especially love Australian films so you can just imagine how fast I ran down to the nearest multiplex to see Baz Luhrman's very expensive and very epic "Australia." For the sake of argument, let's say you too love Australia. Will you love "Australia?" Or might your next Aussie Movie Night be better spent scouring the movie outback for something more scaled down and intimate? “The Castle,” perhaps the smallest and un-mightiest of all Australian films, loads up its telemovie slingshot against all the CGI battleships and bombers movie money can buy. It's David against Goliath. Let’s see if history repeats itself.

The Challenger.  "Australia" director Baz Luhrman makes very pretty images. I’ll give him that. And they’re not making romantic epics much these days. I’ll give him that too. What the heck. I’m in a holiday mood. 

It’s almost three hours long. You should know that up front. If you’re still undaunted, I’m not about to throw any spoilers in your way. Suffice it to say that you’re in for a lot of scenery. Costume changes. Cattle drives. Evil cattle baron – the kind of bad guy who actually snarls and wears a black hat. Institutionalized racism. Horses. Campfires. Personalized racism. Hypocrisy. World War II. Class struggle. Noble savages. Greed. Nameless, shirtless heroes. Scrappy unlikely motley crews accomplishing the impossible. Mistaken identity. Slow motion running. Murder. Mayhem. Magic. Harmonicas. Clichés of every description recycled for your viewing pleasure (or annoyance).

Body of Lies (2008) -vs- Blood Diamond (2006)

Leo as a Man of Action

The Smackdown.  Given his humble beginnings as a kid doing TV sitcoms like "Growing Pains," it's extraordinary to be writing about two huge-budget films where Leonardo DiCaprio is an action hero, but that's where we are.  Nobody thought the economy would be in the shape it is, either, so life is full of surprises.  In any case, both the Middle-East flavored "Body of Lies" and the Sierra Leone-based drama "Blood Diamond" are different kinds of thrillers, uniquely suited to DiCaprio's screen presence.  They're both thoughtful, smart films where the main character is a conflicted guy who finds himself in the middle of a situation that requires all his skills just to stay alive, let alone to figure out how to be a good guy or if he even wants to.  DiCaprio against DiCaprio in a rumble where bullets fly and f-bombs drop.

The Challenger.  "Body of Lies" is the latest film from super-director Ridley Scott who lately seems to be fascinated by the Middle East and our role in it.  In this film, DiCaprio plays Roger Ferris, a CIA operative with a bullet (as in, rising star) who's trying to track down a bin Laden-type named al-Saleem.  He's out there in the field nearly getting killed on a daily basis while Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe) lives a suburban life back in America where he, literally, phones it in to Ferris out in the field. The theme of the film seems to be deception: how you can let the deception that is part of your job bleed into your life, and that, ultimately, nobody is innocent.  The screenplay was written by William Monahan ("The Departed") working from a book written by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius.