“Hotel Mumbai”: A Second-rate Sad Story
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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