It is impossible to imagine the sheer terror staff and guests of the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai, India, must have felt during the November 2008 attacks that culminated in a three-day siege at the hotel and resulted in multiple fatalities.
Hotel Mumbai (watch the trailer above), the feature debut of Australian director Anthony Maras, comes close to conveying what a horrific experience it must have been.
Indeed, the film is akin to a horror movie where the horror is only too real, as it weaves together the stories of a number of guests and staff members trying to survive the attack by four gunmen.
There’s a wealthy couple (Armie Hammer and Nazanin Boniadi) dining in one of the hotel’s restaurants while their nanny (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) looks after their baby in the suite upstairs; an obnoxious Russian businessman (Jason Isaacs); and a couple of Australian backpackers who take refuge in the hotel following earlier attacks in the city.
The Taj’s head chef (Anupam Kher) and a server (Dev Patel) are two of the employees risking their lives to get the guests to safety.
Based on 2009 documentary Surviving Mumbai, as well as hours of research and interviews, the film mostly avoids feeling exploitative – largely due to there being little need to ramp up the drama when the real events were so shocking and disturbing. (Out now) 4 stars
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
