Hotel Mumbai (Anthony Maras, 2019) Australia | USA | India

Reviewed by Kaio Farkouh.

Directed by Anthony Maras, “Hotel Mumbai” tells the true story about the attack in Mumbai, occurred in 2008 at the Taj Hotel. Where guest and workers tried to survive through this nightmare.

At the star of the movie, the director decided to use an approach where he focus on the terrorist approaching the Hotel, the rich family that is about to arrive at the hotel and the hotel and the staff. Which is very interesting, because it shows the different reality of this worlds, you feel like the director is showing different places, but actually it is the same place. You can see probably one of the best hotels in the world, and all around the poverty and the terrible conditions that most of the people live in. It is something very sad, but brings a good realism to it.

God, has a huge role in the movie. It justify the act of the terrorist and it also justify the act of the hotel staff. If you one of them killed to go to the paradise and meet their God. The other helps and do their best to threat the guest as if they were God. The best thing of the movie is Dev Patel, who plays a server at the hotel, and he literally threat the guests as God to make sure they can live through this nightmare. You can understand his actions and he even has to go against his traditions to make sure the guests are getting the best out of him, in an attempt to survive this horror.

The movie is pretty much straight forward, and it does not loose time to show who are the monster in the film. Acts like that will can’t be acceptable, and their excuse for that is based on their desire to have a better way of living and/or a place in paradise, with God. “From Mumbai to Washington” – it is what one of the leaders says, when he tries to make a statement to the world with their act of horror. Rage brings rage, so it works with violence. The movie feels like a sadism, even though it might be a true cause in which people do this horrible thing to have a place in paradise, I just could not accept it, a 2 hour movie based on this sadism, and no character development.

“Hotel Mumbai” is a film that does not bring nothing new to a type of movie that we have seen before. However, because it is based on true events, there is this huge sense of emotion going on. Family is a huge part of the movie, which brings much more drama to a story, that probably most of you have heard before. With a good interpretation by Dev Patel, a determined worker and Armie Hammer, who plays the dad of the family, that see themselves trapped in the hotel.

“Hotel Mumbai” trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dz4jnixs8yA


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