Movie Review: "Hotel Mumbai"

"Hotel Mumbai": B.  If there is a sobering lesson to be learned from Hotel Mumbai, it's that if you happen to be trapped by terrorists inside a hotel, or any large building open to the public, your odds of survival are exceedingly thin.  A secondary lesson might be this: if you are destined to find yourself in such dire circumstances, pray that it does not happen in India.

The film, directed by Australian Anthony Maras in his first such role, is based on real 2008 events which occurred in India's largest city, Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay), located on the west coast of the subcontinent.  The action starts immediately as a small band of men, all bearing large backpacks, quietly lands their small craft among the bigger vessels in the city's quiet harbor.  They disperse into a handful of locations, such as a train station and street markets, and simultaneously unleash barrages of machine gun fire and explosives.  We viewers fear this will not be an easy story to watch; our hunches will prove to be correct.

We quickly shift to the Taj Mahal Palace, a five star hotel known to attract wealthy tourists and business travelers.  The humongous structure is the architectural jewel of the city.  The staff is polished and professional.  Many of them have spent their careers in this service industry.  Placing their guests' comfort before all else is their creed.  The embodiment of this principle is found in head chef Hemant Oberoi (veteran Indian actor Anupam Kher), a dignified professional who displays just the right balance of discipline and humanity.  One of his subordinates is Arjun (Dev Patel), a young married father trying his best to please his boss while he toils in the bustling kitchen.

Once the terrorists enter the Taj, it's Game Over.  Although these radicals number only a half-dozen or so, their hapless victims are at their mercy.  There is no mercy forthcoming.  The jihadists, who we eventually learn are based in neighboring Pakistan, shoot at anything that moves.  They don't really have to aim carefully as their automatic weapons spray dozens of rounds in a heartbeat.  The targets are not chosen with discrimination toward gender, age or race; the body count includes a wide variety of guests and employees.  In one particularly riveting scene, a female staff member is instructed at gun point to call each room on the fourth floor separately and tell whoever answers that the person knocking at their door is a security officer.  The first guest she calls complies with her instructions.  When the staff member hears gunshots through the phone, she balks at making a second call.  The man holding the gun at her head gives her three seconds to change her mind.

The bad guys are working without much of a plan.  For instance, they do not have a blueprint or floor plan.  Taking hostages is not considered until late in the siege when Americans are discovered among the captives.  Americans are rich, they figure, and therefore are worth more alive than dead.  A collection of guests hides out in a second floor restaurant which, for unknown reasons, goes undiscovered for the longest time.  It is here that chef Hemant shines, displaying courage and leadership over the staff and their dining guests who might otherwise panic and unintentionally draw the attention of the gunmen.  

Although Dev Patel gets top billing as the best known of the actors in this film, I was most impressed by the performances of actresses Nazanin Boniadi and Tilda Cobham-Hervey, who, respectively, play an infant's mother, Zahra, and nanny, Sally.  They are separated from each other on two different floors when the attacks begin.  A scene in which Sally is hiding with the baby in a guest room closet while two terrorists are right outside the door is spine-chilling.

Another praiseworthy performance is offered by Jason Isaacs in the role of Vasili, a Russian and frequent guest whose reputation as a high-maintenance customer precedes him.  The servers almost have to draw straws to determine who will be stuck waiting on him.  Arjun accepts the dreaded assignment.  Vasili is one of the few interesting characters, because neither we nor other guests trapped in the hotel restaurant know whether to trust him.  He is, after all, a Russian.  Vasili seems particularly drawn to Zahra, especially when her husband, David (Armie Hammer), sneaks out of the restaurant in an attempt to reach their baby.  Is Vasili protecting Zahra while Armie is away, or hitting on her?

Director Maras and his co-writer, John Collee, do not provide back stories on any of the terrorists.  What is their motive?  Sheer madness is a possible but unlikely answer.  Why did they choose the Taj, where they must have known that a large percentage of their prey would be non-christian?  For the most part the terrorists are fungible, with no discernible differences.  There is little character development with the victims and even less with the murderers.  Although the film is historically interesting and even exciting in places, these shortcomings prevent it from rising to a grade higher than B.

Most of the events shown in Hotel Mumbai supposedly mirror what actually took place on that fateful 2008 day.  If so, it is mind-boggling that a city of over twelve million people, the largest city in the world's second most populous nation, was so ill-prepared for this kind of terrorist attack.  No SWAT team? No special forces? No trained negotiators?  The terrorists entered the hotel before sunset, and were still killing people inside after sunrise the next morning.  The explanation provided to us for the delay in obtaining rescuers is that the local government officials had to wait for Indian special forces to arrive from the capital, New Delhi, over eight hundred miles away.  Meanwhile, the Mumbai police sent in Moe, Larry and Curly.  Didn't work.