8 Mile

Yup... it's already been 9 years since the this drama film first saw the daylight... And the funny thing is, it's still my favourite movie. Well, I didn't watch it for the first time on the year that it came out, 2002, because although I was already a big Eminem fan back then, I was only 10 years old. I mean, would you let a 10 year old kid watch an R-rated movie meant for people aged 18+? :3

I remember that first time I saw this movie was in 2007, the year that I started to get much more into movies and a lot less into cartoons and kiddies shows. I was in a class and I was talking with my friends about our favourite movies. At a point, I said "a movie I always wanted to watch is 8 Mile and I'll watch it as soon as I can!". So I came back home that day and downloaded it (shhhhh!).

Ok, so most people already heard of a certain rapper called "Eminem" or "Slim Shady" in his old days, right? Well, this is his biographic movie! It's about his early life before he was a famous rapper. If you're familiar with his songs, you should already know what it was like but if not, it may surprise you that he was poor, dropped school at age 16, worked in several minimum wage jobs such as clerk at a gas station, working in a car recycling factory or even working in Burger King, had frequent problems with drugs, his relationship with his mom was very difficult and was divorced from his wife whom he had a daughter with (and lives with him). His daughter is around 5 years old or so in the movie.

Ironically, all these same problems going on in his life will inspire him on the writing of his rap songs. It's like the fuel that he needs for the fire to burn.


The story describes well the urban life in the lower classes of cities like Detroit (where he lived). This movie came out in the best time for Eminem, the peak of his popularity when everyone was talking about him so I think the year was well chosen. I think it's a good idea when directors make movies based on stories that happened in real life.

This goes to show you that you don't need a big budget to make a good movie.

I watched this movie twice more both times in 2010 and it will be on tv this weekend... This time I will watch it with my brother. I'm curious to see if they will censour some parts.


I will finish by saying that so far, this is the best movie ever made in my opinion almost 10 years later, it still rocks.

Some carefully selected images :3