The Best Exotic
Marigold Hotel
Screenplay
written by Ol Parker
Movie Review: The Best
Exotic Marigold Hotel: Care Home For the Elderly and Beautiful
From Director John Madden of Shakespeare in Love comes a British
comedy-drama that is witty, touching, heart-warming, truthful, and full of
wisdom on aging! A movie about celebrating life in the midst of conflicting
ideas and realities, as it tackles the personal issues of the protagonists in an
exotic land quite different from where they come from, and where each of them
has to expect the unexpected. It entertains as it also teaches, for in the end,
no one is really too old to learn the lessons of life!
Synopsis:
Based on 2004 novel These Foolish Things by Deborah Moggach,
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel tells the story of seven retired people from
Great Britain who responded to the enticing internet advertisement of a Home
for the Elderly and Beautiful in India, and relates the life of the struggling
hotel manager Sonny, a young Indian who has to defy his mother’s wishes to
follow the dictate of his heart. When these English folks arrived, they were
surprised to see that the seemingly exotic hotel turned out to be “a great
hotel in-the-making.” Left with no choice but to make the best of their time in
India staying in this hotel, each of them went on with his own personal
business:
Muriel (Maggie Smith), a fragile old
lady who trusts no one but English doctors, has to find and trust this Indian
doctor to operate her hip;
Evelyn (Judi Dench), a widower who
was so dependent with her late husband,
has to find a job, reinvent herself, and assert her independence;
Graham (Tom Wilkinson), a retired
judge who had been in India 40 years ago, has to find the love of his life and
confront the guilt he has been carrying since they parted ways;
Douglas (Bill Nighy) and Jean
(Penelope Wilton), a couple whose relationship is in the brink of
falling apart, must face the reality with all honesty and sincerity in order to
remain free and loving people;
Norman (Ronal Pickup) and Madge
(Celia Imrie) who are both looking for a
partner must prove to the world that at their age, it is never too late to find
that special someone; and,
Sonny (Dev Patel), a young, ambitious
entrepreneur must challenge his mother’s dream for him and prove to her and his
lover that he is capable of fulfilling his own dream.
Each character has a personality that
either attracts or repels one another. Moreover, as they go about doing their
own things, they are also confronted with the culture and the people who think
and do things quite differently from them. The cultural shocks started when
they have the ride of their life with a bus and the Tuktuk (a motorcycle taxi which is a common means of transportation in
urban India) to reach the hotel. One can’t help but notice the excitement
and the fear in the faces of these strangers as the bus and the Tuktuk pushed their way along the busy
streets of India! And when Muriel was offered an Aloo Paratha (potato stuffed Indian bread) by Douglas, all she
could say is, “If I can’t pronounce it, I don’t wanna eat it!” Awkward and
funny moments like this are common all throughout the film as each of them
battles with their own insecurities and prejudices. And the moving, yet, very
awkward scene in the film was the meeting of Graham with the love of his life.
As the life story of each character
unfolds, one feels empathy with them, laugh with them, cry with them, and learn
about life with them. One gets an insight as to how life is filled with
unfulfilled dreams and unresolved issues. The movie then, through the
insightful narrative by Evelyn, reveals the ways and means to which these
dreams and issues are resolved and brought to conclusion so that, in the end,
one can appreciate that life never really stops giving us surprises, as long as
one opens his heart to receive them with gratitude and accept one truth that,
as Evelyn says, “We get up in the morning, we do our best. Nothing else matters.”
Cultural clash
The movie really shines on its
dealing with cultural prejudices through the eyes of the outsiders. Maggie
Smith as Muriel is an epitome of a person who appreciates nothing but her own
culture. She wanted an English doctor, bring her own English food, and in one
scene when she entered her room in the hotel and saw this Indian doctor waiting
for her inside, she went out and, in a low voice, said: “There’s an Indian in
there.” It sounded so funny and derogatory at the same time, and Maggie did it
effortlessly. However, her character transforms into a more sensitive being as
she learns to value friendship and embrace differences through an Indian
servant lady.
Another embodiment of a prejudiced
person is Jean, the wife of Douglas. She
is all-complaints about the place, hardly goes out of the hotel, disliking the
smell and the chaos outside, and even dared to ask Graham one day: “How can you
bear this country? What do you see that I don’t?” To which Graham answered
poignantly: “The light, colours, smiles. And the way people see life as a
privilege and not right. It teaches me something.”
It is this cultural clash that adds
flavour to the already tasteful adventures of the protagonists. And the
learning one gets from it. India, as the setting, provides a venue for
psychological nakedness of the characters where each of them bares her own soul
unwittingly. The film also allows the audience to get a taste of the richness
of the Indian culture and how different it is from where the actors come from.
The ensemble
I was hooked to the screen and
couldn’t help but laugh and be amused by the conversations and reactions of the
characters in various incidents. At times, I had to rewind the video a little
bit if I could not get what they were saying. British accents could be
difficult to understand at times. One has to listen carefully to the dialogue
in order to appreciate more the brilliance of the actors. I found the casts of
this movie to be brilliant, versatile, and flawless. No wonder why at their
age, they remain to be among the great British actors still giving the world of
cinema superb and incredible acting.
Judy Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy and
Tom Wilkinson just give remarkable performances one scene after another,
bringing their characters into the screen in full flesh and blood. Of course,
the 2012 Olivier Award nominee for Noises Celia Imrie as Madge, a woman
looking for her Mr. Right, proves that her theatrical experience is something
to look up to. The two other veterans in British cinema, Penelope Wilton as
Jean, and Ronald Pickup as Norman, are equally great. Dev Patel, the
British-Indian actor who shone first in Slumdog
Millionaire must have felt so lucky to be part of this dream cast, proving
to himself that he is ready to be part of such a star-studded film.
Director John Madden is indeed
remarkable. He is able to hook into one string the various life stories of the
characters and able to focus on their humanity. With some typical and at times
stereotyping of first world - meets - third world reactions, the lighter side
of life still shines. There is even one character in the movie who was silent
all the time until towards the end of the movie. Madden is able to just put him
on the background making me wonder what his part will be in the end. Yet, he
came out to be an important character for the resolution of a conflict (between
Sonny and his mom). Great directing.
Memorable
Lines
As a surprise box office hit, this
film does not fail to deliver lines that one remembers with much musing. I
tried to listen carefully to those lines because I believe they invite us to
reflect and be enriched by their wisdom. So, here they are:
“But it’s also true
that the person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing.”
“Patience is passion tamed.”
“The light,
colours, smiles. And the way people see life as a privilege and not right. It
teaches me something.”
“Have we travelled long
enough that we can allow our tears to fall?”
“Nothing happens unless
first we dream.”
“The only real failure
is the failure to try.”
“We get up in the morning, we do our best. Nothing else matters.”
“All we know about the
future is that it will be different. Perhaps what we fear is that it will be
the same. So, we must celebrate the changes. Because as someone once said,
‘Everything will be alright in the end. And if it’s not alright, then, trust
me, it’s not yet the end.’ ”
Seldom can we
see movies that make us laugh, cry, listen intently to the conversation,
challenge us intellectually and culturally, show our vulnerabilities, and teach
us lessons about life. This film does it all. It’s like a “blissful union of
biscuit and tea combined” when you dunk your biscuit into the tea, and
savouring its taste slowly and reverently. Awesome! I highly recommend this
movie to all who love to live life daily with gratitude, appreciation, and
risk!
My rating for this movie: 4 stars!
