“hotel mumbai” movie review

I wasn’t going to review Hotel Mumbai because there’s already so much violence on the news, I can’t bring myself to watch a movie full of it.

But, in light of the terrorist attacks on hotels and churches in Sri Lanka earlier today, I thought maybe this film — based on similar terrorist attacks in India in 2008 — would shed some light on why this happened, how we can prevent it from happening again and what people should do if they’re (God forbid) ever caught in a situation like that.

I was wrong.

All it really makes clear is that terrorists operate from a place of such cold-hearted callousness and indifference that they kill people with the same emotion as we swat at flies. Hotel guests are randomly gunned down yet one of the shooters spits food out of his mouth when he discovers he’s accidentally eaten pork.

There’s something very unnerving about watching an actual tragedy — which killed more than 160 people — while munching on popcorn. In fact, Michael walked out because he just couldn’t stomach all the bloodshed.

As the title makes clear, most of the movie takes place in the hotel, which, in real life, was the five-star Taj Mahal Palace. The story focuses on a power couple, David (Armie Hammer) and Zahra (Nazanin Boniadi), who are staying at the hotel with their new baby and a nanny (Tilda Cobham-Hervey). The scenes of the nanny trying to keep the baby quiet while hiding in a closet are stressful and terrifying — as is this entire movie.

The whole point of Hotel Mumbai, ultimately, is to celebrate the unsung heroes: the selfless workers (including Dev Patel and Anupam Kher) who literally put their lives on the line because, to them, “The guest is God.”

There’s something so awkward about that whole message, too, especially when some of the guests are just self-entitled jerks.

Although the movie is skillfully done and you feel like you’re right in the middle of a nightmare unfolding in real-time, the question is why any of this is necessary to recreate. There’s no doubt that the service workers deserve gratitude and recognition but somehow, when we see the actual footage of them during the credits, it feels more like an ad for the hotel.

I’m sorry I sat through this movie because, as well done as it is, it is excruciating to watch. I think we can find a way to celebrate the world’s heroes without graphically exploiting the moments that earned them their capes.