Film Review: Hotel Mumbai Is A Haunting Experience
Watching Hotel Mumbai, I felt haunted. Written and directed by Anthony Maras, Hotel Mumbai goes beyond being a good or bad film. It becomes a 2 hour experience that leaves you harrowed by the hopelessness, fear, unity, compassion, and terror that occur during such terrorism, of which Hotel Mumbai is based on the 2008 attacks across India that marked the legendary Taj Mahal Palace Hotel with inconceivable bloodshed.
From the beginning, the film follows the terrorists as they spread out and go “merrily” on their way to commit heinous atrocities. Maras’ does eerily well in showing that these men believe they have a “higher,” violent calling because they are also alarmingly human: making jokes about pizza and calling their parents to check if they are okay. As a viewer, you feel perplexed because, as silly as it seems, we don’t think bad guys like pizza or parents. How could they want the good of life if they take it? Yet, these men, sincerely, believe they have lost or gotten the “short end of the stick;” following a leader they never meet but swear will send their family money after they die. Naturally, you eye-roll at knowing no money will be sent, and that somebody has done such evil because of it. No amount of rupees is worth a life.
Visually, Hotel Mumbai swelters. You sweat and cry with the characters as you wish you could escape. There is blood and wounds everywhere, of which the attack, actually, led to the death of over 200 people. While what I am saying may make you fear seeing such a film, I felt changed by the heartbreak it gave me. Watching the film is like adding another layer of intolerance towards gun violence, mass shootings, and terrorist attacks, and makes you want to do something. Yet, it is not only the natural disgust at seeing cruelty done into innocents that moves you to want to ban guns and any weapon of violence, it is the opportunity to meet these innocents.
One undercurrent that constantly sweeps through Hotel Mumbai is economic inequality. You have the workers like, Dev Patel’s Arjun and Anupam Kher’s Oberoi, whom are so noble and honorable, even moreso than their guests. They are heroes that treat their patrons like gods, which can leave you, as a viewer, torn. They hold on to their code of serving even in the face of an abominable situation. Yet, Hotel Mumbai shows that death makes you clutch to the best and worst of your humanity. Some patrons got meaner and even racist, while others like, Armie Hammer’s David, Nazanin Boniadi’s Zahra, and Jason Isaacs’ Vasili surprise you with their bravery and compassion. They refuse to die without a fight for what they most love and deem dignified, and though you might scream, “Don’t run in there!” at the screen, by the end you understand there is no “smart way” to survive chaos; its very conception derives from madness.
As you pour into their stories and other victims of this horrendous moment in human history, you feel sad to see the richness of their life tossed out by a bullet. From the sweet maids protecting themselves and others to young, adventurous couples backpacking across Mumbai, Natasha Liu Bordizzo as Bree and Angus McLaren as Eddie), every victim seems so human and relatable, and then they are gone. They become still bodies that no longer encompass the better souls that inhabited them. Thus, ultimately, Hotel Mumbai is a must see for those that need to know death really is death. You simply end, and it does not matter that you were the kind receptionist that said “Hi” to everyone and had a family that loved her or the chef with four kids that depended on him to get their dreams. It doesn’t matter that you were a couple celebrating your first baby or an accoladed doctor that really wanted a peaceful, restful vacation. Mass shooters/ terrorists don’t care. Yet, Hotel Mumbai makes sure you do. Hotel Mumbai comes out in theaters on March 22.
