Category: Hotel Mumbai

Pakistani wife (Nazanin Boniadi), hotel waiter (Dev Patel), and American architect (Armie Hammer) respond to noises in the hotel.

HOTEL MUMBAI

Film Review by Marlene Ardoin

The events that occurred in 2008 at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in India are depicted in “Hotel Mumbai” in a graphic, yet constructive manner from the viewpoint of Australian filmmakers.

So far, this film has been released in Canada and the USA, with opposition in India, which has even blocked Netflix from screening it.

I needed to see the beginning of this film twice, to better see how the events unfolded.

It appears that a Pakistani terror group landed by boat, then broke up into groups headed for various locations in Mumbai, India, one of which was the hotel.

The compassion of the hotel leaders, worked both for and against them.

On the one hand, they had very loyal employees, and on the other hand, they let the terrorists walk right into the hotel in the midst of a panicked group of civilians.

The terrorists have on head phones.

They are listening to directions and reminders of how these people, the wealthy, were responsible for their poor fortune.

And, of how they would be remembered as heroes that the whole world was watching.

Some of the terrorists felt that this was good enough reason to slaughter civilians, others were conflicted.

Dev Patel plays one of the loyal composite hotel employees, Arjun.

And Anupam Kher plays Chef Hemant Oberoi, a hotel chef.

Both were responsible for saving the lives of their hotel guests in a game of cat and mouse.

Armie Hammer plays an American architect staying at the hotel with his Pakistani wife, played by Nazanin Boniadi, who is actually an Iranian-British actress.

Armie Hammer most recently can be seen in the film, “On the Basis of Sex” as Martin D. Ginsburg (Ruth’s husband).

The power of prayer is highlighted, when the Pakistani wife saves her own life by quoting passages from the Koran to one of the conflicted terrorists.

Too bad she did not start it in time to save her husband and her Russian admirer. This was an interesting grouping.

Was sympathy for the American or the Russian? The Russian, played by Jason Isaacs, was not as squeaky clean as the clean cut American.

Jason Isaacs is probably most remembered for his role as Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter films.

This film is full of controversy and I hesitated to review it because of the graphic violence, but I feel that its content has socially redeeming qualities.

A lot of different cultures are depicted, so you may or may not be offended, but timely messages give it value.

See this film at your own risk.