After winning the hearts of moviegoers around world, "Slumdog Millionaire," a buoyantly hopeful romance set amid the poverty of Mumbai, India, won the Academy Award for best picture, capping a night of wins including the best director Oscar for Danny Boyle.
With eight Oscars, "Slumdog" took home the most statuettes of any movie at the 81st Academy Awards held today at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles.
Sean Penn took home his second best actor Oscar, winning for his portrayal of slain San Francisco politician and gay rights activist Harvey Milk in the film "Milk" and Kate Winslet won best actress for playing a Nazi concentration camp guard in the "The Reader."
Riffing on Hollywood's perceived political leanings, Penn's first words upon accepting the Oscar were: "You commie, homo-loving sons of guns."
The only real upset of the evening, Penn beat out Mickey Rourke, nominated for the titular role in "The Wrestler," who had bested Penn at the Golden Globes last month.
Winslet, who has been nominated five previous times, said: "I'd be lying if I said I haven't made a version of this speech before. I think I was probably 8 years old and staring into the bathroom mirror, and this would have been a shampoo bottle. Well, it's not a shampoo bottle now."
Heath Ledger was posthumously awarded the best supporting actor Oscar for his role as the Joker in the "Dark Knight."
Ledger died Jan. 22, 2008, following an accidental overdose in his New York apartment. Ledger's parents and sister accepted the Oscar on their son's behalf and said it would be given to his 3-year-old daughter, Matilda.
In accepting the award, Ledger's father Kim Ledger called the role "this crazy Joker character." Some of have speculated that the dark role -- an insane criminal clown -- led Ledger to become depressed.
Ledger, who was 28 when he died, joins 1976 best-actor winner Peter Finch of "Network" as the only other performer to win an Oscar after his death.
Penelope Cruz won the best supporting actress award for "Vicky Christina Barcelona," and "Wall-E," the morality tale cleverly disguised as romance about robots, won for best animated feature.
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