“Hotel Mumbai”: A Second-rate Sad Story

Release Date:May/22/2019
Genre:Drama/History/Thriller
Director:Anthony Maras
Cast:Dev Patel、Armie Hammer、Nazanin Boniadi、Jason Isaacs、Anupam Kher

Viola's Rating:7.1





Four months ago was the 10th anniversary of the 2008 Mumbai Attacks, and to commemorate all the deceased and those who tried to help the most people escape, no matter hospital staff, hotel staff or police officer, feature film "Hotel Mumbai" was made, and was released in the US on Mar 22, 2019.


As a major Western film based on the 2009 documentary "Surviving Mumbai" about the 2008 Mumbai Attacks, main scenes of "Hotel Mumbai" is at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in India, at which one of the eight attacks took place. This dramatic, historical thriller tells the true story of the Taj Hotel terrorist attack in Mumbai when hotel staff risk their lives to keep everyone safe as people make inconceivable sacrifices to protect their families and themselves.


Usually, a flick based on actual events are very absorbing, even if it's something grueling and horrible like "Schindler's List" or "The Impossible", but "Hotel Mumbai" fails to convey its magical power to bring tears into the audience's eyes because it's filmed into an action thriller. Of course it's intense, but there's nothing besides violence shown in the motion picture. Moviegoers feel neither the misfortune of those who happen to stay at the hotel that night as to the Jewish people in "Schindler's List", nor the helplessness people encounter during the attack just like in "The Impossible". Let's put it this way, when did the tragedy of such terrorist attack become an entertainment material to get the adrenaline going instead of pondering the reason why and think deeper.

However, "Hotel Mumbai" still manages to deliver the bravery of the hotel staff perfectly. It doesn't demonstrate them as if they're not afraid at all. On the contrary, the movie depicts exactly how they're frightened, but just because no one knows the hotel better than they do, it is them that can save the most people out of this terrorist attack. As most picture based on true story would do, "Hotel Mumbai" tells its audience what happened after the attack, and plays some real-life footages to honor the great work these staff performed.

Besides describing the event, "Hotel Mumbai" tells a touching story with two amazing actors: Armie Hammer and Dev Patel. Similar to Danish feature film "The Guilty", director Anthony Maras placed a bunch of stereos at the shooting site, and played bombing sounds arbitrarily so that the two awesome actors' reaction could be even more authentic.

All in all, although "Hotel Mumbai" is not a first-rated film, and it's one with nasty content, but it's generally action-packed and powerful. Even though it has been receiving criticism because of making it too much of an entertainment and not mentioning the role of Pakistan, it's still a flick worth watching.

Picture Credit: IMDb

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