There's a good reason why "Slumdog Millionaire" has won countless awards, including four Golden Globes, and has been nominated for 10 Academy Awards. It's not just your average movie. It's an experience. And the year's most breathtaking and unforgettable one, at that. This is the stuff that Hollywood, and even Bollywood, strive so hard to produce, but only succeed every once in a blue moon.

The film takes place in the lively city of Mumbai, India, chronicling the life of Jamal Malik and his romantic quest to find his childhood friend Latika. As the title of the film implies, Jamal is a contestant on the Hindi version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. He manages to surprise the show's audience and host because he answers every question correctly. No one can fathom how an uneducated teenager from the slums can do so well.

Little do the doubters know that Jamal is successful not because he's a genius, but because every question coincidentally sparks a significant memory in his mind, which is effectively expressed to the viewer through a series of flashbacks. We come to understand how Jamal knows the answers to the questions, and furthermore, what events in his life lead up to the present. Every memory is a key to the answer.

Through these flashbacks, we see young Jamal go through a whole slew of trials and tribulations alongside his brother, Salim, both rascals as children, who together trudge through India's most poverty-stricken streets in deplorable conditions, witness the murder of their mother during the Hindu-Muslim riots, get mixed up with gangsters, and train hop through India, landing on iconic sites like the Taj mahal.

The cinematography is astounding. By juxtaposing the most poverty-stricken and polluted parts of India (in flashbacks) with the more industrial metropolis that is Mumbai, we come to understand a new meaning of challenge and hardship, and at the same time, admire the economic progress of India and the endurance of its people.

Along the adventure, Jamal befriends Latika, a homeless girl also from the slums. This newfound relationship brings about a personal conflict between Salim and Jamal, and when Latika is separated from the two brothers, Salim is ready to forget about her and move on with his life. Jamal never does, and so they both branch out in different directions, Salim on a path of greed and corruption, and Jamal on a path of love and devotion. Both paths intersect and are intertwined with Latika's.

It is not greed or money that drives Jamal to participate on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Rather, it's his clear and steadfast conviction to find Latika. He hopes that she will be watching.

Although the romantic plot line has been done over and over again in the history of cinema to the point where it feels generic and formulaic in most other films, it feels fresh and innovative in "Slumdog Millionaire." This is partly due to the film's strong emphasis on character development and mostly due to the film's delivery and direction. Simon Beufroy's screenplay exudes with narrative force. We are invested in the the character's lives because we know their pasts and we are anxious about their futures.

One of my favorite scenes in the film is when Jamal and Salim reunite in their adult years on a high rise building still under construction. They both sit on the edge of the building, observing not only the industrialization and progress of the city, but their own personal progress as well. They are no longer in rags covered in dirt. Salim tells Jamal that India is shaping up to be the economic center of the world. And they are both, in his words, "in the center of the center." I felt like my seat in the theatre was in the center of both centers.

What started out as a low budget independent film in which few people believed in, has quickly turned into an oscar-worthy masterpiece. How fitting that the film's plot revolves around a slumdog who no one believed could do great things. Perhaps the film's fate, like Jamal's, was already written.

You learn a lot about people based on what they do and what they look like at a funeral. The opening scene in "Gran Torino" tells us a lot about Walt Kawalski and modern society at large.

What it tells us about society is that it's so over-saturated with technology that even Walt's granddaughter finds it more fitting to text her friends than to at least pretend to grieve her own grandmother's death. It tells us that society is so fixated on numbers and business that Walt's two sons have grown numb to the tragedy of their mother's death, and find it more appropriate to mock their father by observing, "the man's still living in the 50's" without so much as shedding a tear.

What the opening scene tells us about Walt (you better call him Mr. Kawalski) is that you really don't want to mess with the man. The way he scowls and stutters tell us he's holding back what he really wants to say, or worse, what he really wants to do. "Gran Torino" stars Clint Eastwood, who portrays Mr. Kawalski as whatwe've come to expect from hiscareer's performances: badass.

As a retired Detroit autoworker, Kawalski is ashamed that his two sons sell Japanese cars,for what he sees as a good reason: he's a Korean War Veteran. It doesn't matter that Japan isn't the same as Korea. They're all "chinks" to him. When a Hmong family moves next door to Walt, things start to get interesting.

Kawalski oftentimes sits on his porch with his beer in hand, observing a familiar world filled with unfamiliar people. He spits when he sees something he disapproves of, like the old Hmong lady next door. She spits back a bigger, nastier wad of mucus. Perhaps the observation made by Kawalski's son in the opening scene was accurate. Things have changed since 1950. Walt, apparently, has not.

The streets of Kawalski's neighborhood are infested with gangs. Sitting on his porch, Kawalski observes a Hmong gang try to recruit the neighbor's timid, feminine teenage son, Thao. Kawalski could care less. Just stay off his lawn and you'll be fine.

But in order to be accepted into the gang, Thao has to steal Walt's most prized possession: a 1972 Gran Torino. I won't spoil whether or not he succeeds.

It's predictable that Walt will have to change by the end of the movie. This change can be attributed to Thao's more sensible sister, Sue. Walt saves her from a bunch of gangsters and spends time with her and even accepts an invitation to visit her home to taste Hmong food. He doesn't fully assimilate into the culture, per se, but he does come to understand that the **** next door are more than just targets. In fact, by the end of the movie, he loves his neighbors more than he loves his own materialistic, self-absorbed family.

Although Kawalski's transformation could be seen from a mile away, at least for me, it was the extent to which he changes that took me by surprise. Not only does he make a sacrifice for people that are very different than himself, he does it in a noble and unexpected way when you consider his history as a soldier. And it's not a sentimental ending by any means. It's realistic. It's touching.

I found Kawalski's transformation a symbol of modern American values. Despite a history marred by slavery, ignorance, bigotry, and intolerance, Americans showed the world that they could put their painful past behind them by electing an African-American into the highest office of the nation. Mr. Kawalski may not be perfect by the end of the movie, but at least he took the time to understand and accept someone different than himself. Perhaps that's all we could expect from a guy with a history like his. That's all we can hope for.