Slumdog

Never before has a movie impacted me more than Slumdog Millionaire. Upon seeing this film, which for good reason swept the Academy Awards, I was completely mystified by the stunning camera work in this film. I have always been a supporter of independent cinema, simply because money is short, and yet, a good number of these films run circles around big production pieces. Take, for example, the number of blockbuster-esque movies flopping at the box office in recent years. Production companies like Fox and Warner Bros. spend hundreds of millions on one film. In 2002, The Adventures of Pluto Nash, starring Eddie Murphy, had a budget of 100 Million dollars. This film was horribly recieved, and actually, Warner Bros. reported a loss of almost 96 million dollars. Then you look at an independent film like Slumdog, had a budget of 15 million. This film debuted at a relatively small independent film festival, won acclaim, and now has grossed more than 175 million. This film featured no Tom Cruises, no Samuel L. Jacksons, just actors with no recognition and loads of talent. It could be said, then, that actors who aren't recieving a 6 figure check for a film pour more of themselves into the film. They are not acting to make a check, they are acting through their feelings, and regardless if they make 1,000 or  1,000,000 for a film, their heart is in the film, not their wallet.