Slumdog Millionaire: Best film of the year?Barking and batting for the others
By John Esther
Judging by the majority of mainstream accolades and conversations from film reviewers and consumers alike, one would believe that the best the films of 2008 had to offer were Slumdog subjective dazes and replayed dark knight narratives where Horatio Algers of the world rise from the hells of poverty and alien-nation while billionaire playboys dress up and save the world; growing young has its disadvantages, and non-German Germans speaking English could write a more genial and gentler German history in these not so happy-go-lucky times.
What was that Godarian remark about art being the reality of the reflection of reality? Egad, if unabashedly reinforcing the status quo vis-à-vis Victorian-valued fantasy is the cinematic community’s reaction to the best in the best of all possible worlds then, apparently, The Class’ François (François Bégaudeau) is not the only one reluctant to have others to read Voltaire’s Candide.
If it were not for the notable exceptions of Milk and Waltz with Bashir it would seem that in the days of President-Elect Barack Obama, the Hollywood apparatus, along with the apologists and admirers, are even more behind the American political centrist-left curve than they were with the promotion of last year’s politically reactionary film, No Country for Old Men, as the best picture of 2007.
While it would be lengthy, albeit perhaps more useful, to discuss the faults with the forerunners of 2008, as we look ahead to January 20, 2009, let us praise here the extraordinary works of art of 2008 rather than tear down mediocrity moviemaking. (There is much to criticize elsewhere anyhow and, besides, criticisms can be fully explored during the month-long Oscar race between nominations on January 22, 2009, and the award ceremony on February 22, 2009.)
Like any other social text, a film needs to be judged on numerous tropes, agents and assets implementing ideas, events and characters with intensity, innovation and intelligence. No film is an island free from complacency, criticism and kudos.
There were plenty of exemplary films of 2008 achieving considerable accomplishment(s) yet it was not a particularly great year for cinema. More specifically, on at least three memorable occasions, weeks went by where, basically, I saw films I would essentially forget altogether had it not been for the occasional reminder thanks to a visit to the video store or channel surfing through cable television.
Ergo the alphabetic list of best 2008 films below may have risen to the top of the year, but it is highly unlikely any of them will make my “best of the decade” at the end of this year.
Funny Games U.S. – In light of and in contrast to promising times such as these, it is a grand thing when someone shoves a Schopenhauerian story of non-visually accepted brutality into our non-olfactory cephalic orifices. An American remake of his 1997 film, Michael Haneke’s precisely directed film examines the mean means and wayward ways of American movie violence when a staunchly upper-middle class mother (Naomi Watts), father (Tim Roth) and son (Devon Gearhart) are terrorized by the polite duo of Peter (Brad Corbet) and Paul (Michael Pitt). Superior to that other hyperbolic praised film attempting to address the same subject yet concluding with a disgusting display of suburban romanticism, A History of Violence, not since Gaper Noe’s Irreversible (which is also guilty of David Cronenberg's adoration of suburbia and urban mistrust) has a feature film crawled under my skin, for very good reason, like this non-funny match of “Bonehead” and “Hellraiser” images and ideas.
Hunger – Stylistically brilliant with an excess of poetic license that prevents the cinematic story of IRA resister and hunger-striker Bobby Sands from being a grand masterpiece, Steve McQueen’s film is as stark, brutal, unappetizing and relentlessly pessimistic as any historical recreation of the highest orders. When you know there is no hope for the historical characters in a film -- and this is not a Hollywood movie so there will not be any here – there is little else to do than sit back and taste the misery. Cops do not stop torturing and let their victims go. Others do not watch on as the horrors of oppression merge on. This is a story about pain, resistance and lasting victory. There is a human dignity personified in this film, far beyond the machinations of a cynical Hollywood apparatus. 
Milk – Wonderful in so many ways, Gus Van Sant’s story of slain civil rights leader Harvey Milk is the kind of story that offers not just one person a chance to make it in this world while millions watch on in status quo oblivion, but a community, if not a nation (world), too. What is there to legitimately say wrong about it? Sean Penn’s performance as Milk is typically brilliant yet, in addition, propelled by the excellent supporting cast. Van Sant’s skilled direction is manifest and loving. Danny Elfman’s score is the most significant of his film career. The film has direct political resonance of our times and it will be watched for years to come. Okay, Diego Luna’s character and his character’s wig are quite annoying but, otherwise, Milk may be the best film of the year.
Nothing But the Truth – In her best performance as the year’s best female character (which is not saying much), Kate Beckinsale plays Rachel Armstrong, a reporter for a major newspaper in Washington, D.C. who exposes the identity of a covert CIA agent, Erica Van Doren (Vera Farmiga). The government, lead by Patton Dubois (Matt Damon), demands Rachel release the name of her source. At considerable cost, Rachel refuses to cave in -- thus saving face, protecting democracy and her source, plus offering “hope” for journalists, women and parents who lose family in the name of a larger unit. While writer-director Rod Lurie’s previous works have had their moderate and modest merits, he progresses professionally and politically with this picture.
Seven Pounds – In the best lead performance of his career, Will Smith, in his follow up to the stupid Hancock, plays Ben Thomas, a man so riddled with guilt the only thing left to live for is others. Ben is ready to make the ultimate sacrifice for the right people; he just needs to make sure the people he picks deserve his generosity. Along the way he discovers some of the kindest, quietest people; including a heartbreaking, lonely, blind man played to near-perfection by Woody Harrelson (only that hairdo diminishes his character’s pathos). Surprisingly, for a film about an African-American making the grandest personal sacrifice he can for the greater good during the time of an upcoming African-American African president talking about sacrifice for the greater necessity, director Gabriele Muccino’s authentic “feel good” film has, unfortunately, been discarded during awards season by lighter weight works.
Special – Beyond Michael Rapaport’s outstanding performance, this is a small film with a lot of phenomena going for it. Dealing with drugs as both self-realization and self-destruction; deconstruction of the comic book narrative; the fantasies of the working class person; paying and playing to advertise brand names as an act of hero worship and identification (albeit false); working class dupe as guinea pig and wild horse; as much as you push down the working class person, he (she, they) will eventually rise; and special as in stupid; this widely disregarded film is filled with ideas and style, which is all the more important considering its obviously low budget. Special in its own way, this was the most overlooked film of the year.
Synecdoche, New York – Writer extraordinaire Charlie Kaufman’s directorial debut film allows the kind of rigorous thought, attention, reflection and reward akin to obvious, and not so obvious, predecessors like James Joyce’s Ulysses, Marcel Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past (and Pamela Hansford Johnson’s Proust Recaptured) , Laurence Stern’s Tristram Shandy, Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author, Jean-Luc Godard’s Pierrot Le Fou (and some recent films by Jacques Rivette), and theories advanced by Umberto Eco (Travels in Hyper Reality) Terry Eagleton (“Subjects”) and Frederic Jameson (simulacrum!) – to name just a few -- plus the music of Wire (ITABA and “Drill”). The difficult acting challenges required by the story's/ies demands are superbly met by the likes of Philip Seymour Hoffman, Dianne Wiest, Tom Noonan, Michelle Williams, Samantha Morton, Hope Davis and others.
Tony Manero – Set against the awful reign of General Auguste Pinochet’s military grip on Chile, 1978, Raul (Alfredo Castro) is an everyday fascist obsessed with impersonating Saturday Night Fever’s disco do-nothing doll (John Travolta). Grounds for a social satire, Chile’s official Oscar entry is one of the more violent and vicious films of the year (up there with Funny Games). If it suits Tony, he will steal or kill. A jerk being jerked around, like the leader of his country Tony cannot get a rise from people but he can sure put people down – for good. He should be dancing in jail but who is going to notice in a land gone mad with might? Selflessly acted by Castro and others, and bravely directed by Pablo Larrain, Tony Manero is a brutal portrait of a country rotting from the arms to its goosesteps. Not surprisingly in this time of romance with happy endings, Larrain’s film is been widely reviled by the mainstream movie reviewers.
Tropic Thunder – Every year there is a movie-- usually one of those quieter summer releases -- I have a blast watching. It may not be a masterpiece, but it possesses enough wit and verve to make the top ten. Director/actor/producer/co-writer Ben Stiller’s film within a film about the making of the ultimate war movie clinched-fisted America’s fascistic fascination with the image of war – plus other less than noble endeavors -- and punched it right in the funny bone. From the opening scene to the ridiculous panda-cide to the hilarious send up of the serious actor by this year’s most overlooked “Best Supporting Actor” Robert Downey, Jr., to Tom Cruise’s anal-releasing performance as a foulmouthed billionaire and so on, this was a riotous ruckus. You people know what I mean.
Waltz with Bashir – The only documentary or animated film to make the list this year (note: I have not seen Wall-E), Ari Folman’s non-“Love Song” into the Lebanon massacres of 1982 by the powers that be – Lebanese, Israeli, or otherwise – engages viewers on several levels with its important historical insights, clear anti-war message, contemporary political impact, outstanding animation and deft soundtrack. In contrast to those Disneyesque derivatives of Charles Dickens, Alexandre Dumas and DC Comics, for the children of the Sabra and Shatila slums, there was no millionaire reward or going back, and the only thing the dark night brought was terror. They lit up their deaths.
