John Madden’s film, from the best selling novel by Deborah Moggach, follows a group of British retirees who decide to outsource their retirement to less expensive and seemingly exotic India. Enticed by advertisements for the newly restored Marigold Hotel and bolstered with visions of a life of leisure, they arrive to find the palace a shell of its former self. Though the new environment is less luxurious than imagined, they are transformed by their shared experiences.
This is a big film, big on star power and big on themes. You’ve got some of Britain’s finest actors including Dench, Smith, Nighy, Wilkinson and then some of India’s finest Dev Patel and Tena Desae. I came out of the movie feeling uplifted, revitalised.
The Bard famously wrote that, ‘youth is a stuff that will not endure’. Yes, of-course Shakespeare was absolutely right. However there is also another, just as great a truth, that whilst we are alive the spirit is still willing- we still yearn for adventure, romance, discovery, satisfying work, honest communication, the courage to find one’s own path….
This, my friend, is what THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL is all about! Go and enjoy this modern parable and, at the same time, enjoy some of the world’s finest actors at the top of their craft.
And then…there’s magical, exotic India.
(c) David Kary
1 April, 2012
Tags: Sydney Movie Reviews- THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL, John Madden, Deborah Moggach, Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Dev Patel, Tena Desae, India.
