Darjeeling Limited attempts quiet spirituality
These supporting characters surround the brothers and provide varying degrees of comic relief - some of the movie's funniest moments are derived from Wilson's deadpan chastising of the mildly pathetic Brendan.As the brothers barrel across India they make hurried stops at various temples and spiritual sites.
In the midst of their frenetic journey, they begin to share their lives with one another but only while bickering and commanding one brother to "not tell" the third. Peter reveals his wife's pregnancy, Jack beds the stewardess and Frances eventually cops to attempting suicide, explaining the bandages on his face (oh the irony!).
All the while the three indulge in brother Frances' barely legal, over-the-counter painkillers, dulling both their emotional pain and their supposedly growing spirits.
Up to this point, the film, like the journey it depicts, feels a little aimless, a little farcical and even a little self-indulgent. No doubt the brothers' banter is amusing, and Wilson in particular showcases his ability to portray idiosyncratic characters with deft comic skill. But in some sense, the movie doesn't quite start until the brothers are booted from the train for harboring a poisonous snake.
After they are expelled from The Darjeeling Limited, the eponymous train of the movie, they are met with three young Indian brothers crossing a dangerous stream. When the young boys are swept into the current, the Whitman brothers each attempt to rescue one. Peter's boy drowns, and in that moment, the men's spirtual journey actually begins.
They escort the living boys and their dead brother back to their tiny village. Gone are the loud marketplaces and vibrant colors that typified the Indian landscape prior. Instead, simple huts and white-clad villagers embrace the men and invite them to the boy's funeral. There, the Whitman brothers simultaneously relive (in flashback) their father's funeral that took place one year before.
The jarring shift in time and place, from India to Manhattan, reveals the source of the brothers' shared angst surrounding their dead father and absent mother, making the viewer aware that if the beginning of the film seemed like a farce, well, that's because it was: an intentional glossing of spiritual growth and brotherly love. Instead those ideals exist in a shared moment of tragedy and recollection, touchingly conveyed by the carefully written screenplay.
In the midst of their frenetic journey, they begin to share their lives with one another but only while bickering and commanding one brother to "not tell" the third. Peter reveals his wife's pregnancy, Jack beds the stewardess and Frances eventually cops to attempting suicide, explaining the bandages on his face (oh the irony!).
All the while the three indulge in brother Frances' barely legal, over-the-counter painkillers, dulling both their emotional pain and their supposedly growing spirits.
Up to this point, the film, like the journey it depicts, feels a little aimless, a little farcical and even a little self-indulgent. No doubt the brothers' banter is amusing, and Wilson in particular showcases his ability to portray idiosyncratic characters with deft comic skill. But in some sense, the movie doesn't quite start until the brothers are booted from the train for harboring a poisonous snake.
After they are expelled from The Darjeeling Limited, the eponymous train of the movie, they are met with three young Indian brothers crossing a dangerous stream. When the young boys are swept into the current, the Whitman brothers each attempt to rescue one. Peter's boy drowns, and in that moment, the men's spirtual journey actually begins.
They escort the living boys and their dead brother back to their tiny village. Gone are the loud marketplaces and vibrant colors that typified the Indian landscape prior. Instead, simple huts and white-clad villagers embrace the men and invite them to the boy's funeral. There, the Whitman brothers simultaneously relive (in flashback) their father's funeral that took place one year before.
The jarring shift in time and place, from India to Manhattan, reveals the source of the brothers' shared angst surrounding their dead father and absent mother, making the viewer aware that if the beginning of the film seemed like a farce, well, that's because it was: an intentional glossing of spiritual growth and brotherly love. Instead those ideals exist in a shared moment of tragedy and recollection, touchingly conveyed by the carefully written screenplay.
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