Shooting film is a good way to learn the basics for many who have the patience, or who want to learn techniques unique to using film for certain effects. Even though digital technology has virtually taken over the amateur arena, shooting film is still very practical. There are many commercial and professional film labs available to process basically every type of film made. In my opinion, processing your own film can be more problematic for people just getting started, unless you have the desire to learn, is at best an activity reserved for those who have the patience and exacting standards to do a quality job of it. Even mainstream photography schools are starting to phase out the old darkroom lab courses and are moving exclusively to digital. So, I would not recommend you go that route unless you really want to learn to do it as it's not as easy as it can seem.
For an investment of $200-$400, you can piece together a good darkroom, and even less if all you desire is to develop negatives or slides, more if you want to make prints from them. For film, I use a canon EOS ELAN series SLR from the late 90's, early 00's. These days they can be had for under $150 used on ebay or adorama with a lens. If you wish to shoot film, I would recommend a similar, older model semi-pro SLR.
Film is not as forgiving as digital, and I suppose to that end, it is considered that film is more pure a form of capture to digital. But digital technology surpasses itself every couple of years and the gap between film and digital is all but non-existant these days. In terms of resolution and low noise, the more you spend, the better the quality-under-an-eyeloop you'll get. But there are pro-sumer level DSLR's available that do offer what is most practical for the average amateur consumer. Cameras from the two leading manufacturers, the nikon D40x and canon 400D/EOS rebel XTi are two that are most cost effective in terms of available features and resolution and I would recommend one of the two for beginners. Both are 10 meg DLSR's between $500-$600 with a lens. Both are "last year" models that have replacements this year, so they are both competitively sold all over.
The idea is, learn what you can on cheaper cameras now to discover which features you'll "need" in an upgrade later. Cameras aren't cheap, and neither are their accessories, so I recommend figuring out on your own what is most important from your camera, and learn why you need to pay particular attention to which lens you choose. At first, it's difficult to know what is best for you vs. what salesman tell you is best. I had never considered myself an advanced amateur enough to have magically "knew" what was best until I learned on my own. You learn through experience. Buy a camera, and use it often. Keep your owner's manual, and read it. Most questions you'll have will be answered there.
I hope this helps, and good luck.