Hotel Mumbai is a Timely Lesson on Terrorism [REVIEW]

It’s been 10 years since the attacks in Mumbai (aka 26/11), where terrorists carried out several attacks across the country culminating at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, where hostages were left to fend for themselves against armed terrorists for several days. Now there is a Hollywood movie about the tragic event, currently in theaters, called Hotel Mumbai, and the debate is whether it is ethical for movies based on real-life tragedies to exist, especially coming off of the New Zealand mosque attack (New Zealand pulled the film from theaters). After having seen the film, the board thinks New Zealand had every right to remove it, but the film’s existence (and others like it) bring the horror to life, and while everyone may not want to relive these tragedies, censorship is terrible for posterity and these films make sure the stories showcase the absolute best and worst of humankind.

Hotel Mumbai is one of a series of films based on the attacks, (the documentary Surviving Mumbai has an “inspired-by” credit at the end) and an important aspect of retelling these stories is historical accuracy. While filmmakers can never guarantee 100% accuracy, first-time filmmaker Anthony Mara, who co-wrote and directed the film, clearly did his due diligence in retelling it in an authentic manner. The producers say, “they expended considerable effort, pouring over a thousand pages of transcripts of interrogations of the lone terrorist survivor and tapes of intercepts monitoring their interactions while the killing was in progress.” What separated the Mumbai attacks from others is the unique length of terror, which lasted days, and the expanded setting of the hotel, which made it terrifying in a different way than a short bomb blast or shooting. Mara does a great job of capturing that uncomfortable tension that feels like the actual grueling 68 hours in a non-stop 2-hour long action film.

Part of the way Mara did this was by not having a single narrative, but by making the Taj the main character and letting the audience view the characters through their interactions in the hotel. Dev Patel plays a Sikh waiter (Arjun) who works under head chef Oberoi (Anupam Kher) and together with the kitchen staff they play a major role in getting the hotel guests to safety, their motto is “the guest is god,” and their heroic efforts come from staying behind and going above and beyond their job description by sheltering and protecting dozens of guests. Armie Hammer plays the husband of a wealthy Iranian-British heiress Zahra (Nazanin Boniadi) and, while their separation and desperation is heartbreaking in itself, their babysitter Sally (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) trying to silence their baby’s cries during the hunting down and shooting of guests is one of the most anxiety inducing scenes of the entire film.

Context is very important in telling these horrific events and, while a choice was made to make this film R-rated and show graphic deaths of innocent people, it makes it clear it’s because they refuse to censor the story, and rarely does it feel cheap or exploitative. To be sure, people are shown getting blown up and shot at point blank range, and while there have been complaints about the lack of a well-rounded character, the minimal characterization and separation mimics what it would have been like in the hotel, the viewer becomes trapped in the film with the terrorized strangers asking the same questions and wondering when help will arrive, if ever. It never lets us feel comfortable with any character because the terrorists are always near, lurking around the corner with AK-47 rifles and backpacks of ammo and other weapons.

Many times, films like this have a cartoonish villain that never digs into the reason why these events occurred, but similar to Peter Berg’s Patriot’s Day (about the Boston bombings), the terrorists at the heart of the attacks aren’t conniving men but naive boys, who in Hotel Mumbai, stop the killing to eat dessert and awe at flushing toilets. The real Jihadi mastermind is in their earpieces telling them what to do and how to do it (sometimes despite hesitation), seducing them with Islamist rewards in the afterlife and making other false promises. There are subtle moments with the terrorists, when they aren’t following orders from their leader, that make them realized but does not exonerate them of their crimes.

Another example when the movie attempts to deepen a character, is when an elderly woman that is hiding with the other guests starts to racially panic over Patel’s beard and turban, despite him being an employee and helping the guests hide. This leads to a moment where he has to humanize himself and his religion to her, which some may feel is patronizing but anything is possible when the situation is life or death. For those who felt it was unrealistic, another instance of the elderly white lady’s racism came when the Muslim heiress was speaking another language on the phone with her mother, and the lady loudly accused her of being “one of them” (the terrorists). This moment didn’t end as politely for the elderly woman, as a wealthy Russian man sticks up for the heiress and tells her off, and while this could be so she wouldn’t give away their position, it still puts her in the wrong and thwarts off anyone trying to say this movie demonizes Islam. While the characters aren’t complex, they are written well enough to where you want them to come out safely and squirm at their decisions to run or hide because there is no right answer to what the best choice in that situation is.

Some people will not be comfortable with a film like Hotel Mumbai and that is okay; a movie this graphic in nature will not be suitable for people who are easily queasy or go to the movies to feel good, but, in general, stories should not be censored. Some stories are harder to tell than others, but screenwriters John Collee and Anthony Maras capture the three-day horror at the Taj hotel by portraying the guests who helped protect it and save the guests, and unflinchingly showing the men that carried out the attacks across Mumbai, with graphic realism. The film is reminiscent of other historical films like Hotel Rwanda and United 93,and, 10 years after the Mumbai attacks occurred, the shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand makes it evident that these dark events are happening now more than ever. While not every tragedy is deserving of a movie, Hotel Mumbai proves that not only should this particular story have been told, but that it will not be easily forgotten once it is seen.