Whoa.

I had an amazing movie/book night last night. After all the hype about Slumdog Millionaire we thought we would give it a shot, and while Rachael slept through most of it, I was on the edge of my seat. I then finished Cormac McCarthy's "The Road". Both of these were so good that I had a hard time going to sleep because I was thinking about the characters and the underlying messages of both of these stories.

Slumdog Millionaire: A well filmed, well told story of a "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" contestant in India knows the answers to each of the questions. Each question has to do with different elements of Jamal, Salim, and Latika's lives. The story ultimately has to do with love. The love of a brother and the forgiveness that can be found even when all looks dreary...as well as passionate love between a man and a woman. Jamal never forgets about Latika and spends the entire film trying to find her as they are seperated several times.
I am more of a renter now than a buyer of movies, but this is one that I will end up putting in my collection.

The Road: What is the bravest thing you have ever done?, a son asks his father. His father's response? "I woke up this morning." McCarthy's book is set in a post-apocalyptic world where everything is burnt, dead, or slowly turning to ash, there is no sun and the cold is all that our characters seem to be familiar with. The book really deals with the struggle of a parent in answering all of life's important questions when raising a child...what will they eat, what will they drink, what will I do if my child is threatened, where will they sleep, will they be healthy, what are they going to do without me. McCarthy's novel encourages the reader to face their own mortality while reading about this father and son. McCarthy also brings up the element of faith with his characters and how they don't feel that God is there because of all the evil in the world, which I found to be an interesting commentary on how people feel today even when all their needs are being met.

Both were truly amazing. Simply put: Whoa.