When you combine the genius of Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman and Adrian Brody with a little bit of Angelica Houston and Bill Murray (cameo), and wrap it all with the majesty and heartbreak of a spiritual journey to India to help three brothers find themselves after their father's death, you have The Darjeeling Limited.
Owen Wilson plays Francis, Adrian Brody plays Peter and Jason Schwartzman plays Jack. The three brothers are on a train during a large part of the movie - traveling from one part of India to another. Francis is the self-imposed leader and Peter is the one who seems to take the brunt of the teasing. Jack is a ladies man. I was enchanted by watching the brothers interacting with one another - it just blew my mind to see them interacting with one another - three actors who didn't spend a large chunk of their lives together acting in unison as if they had. It was moving and charming at the same time.
The journey goes well until the brothers are ousted from the train for bringing a deadly snake on board. They end up stranded and start walking with all their ornate baggage (such a metaphore) and come across three boys (not brothers) who are struggling to get a raft across the water. They watch a rope brake and they drop everything to save the boys. Two survive and one dies. Peter didn't save "his" boy. Gut wrenching pain of loss is revisited in the tiny village of the boy and the brother's experience loss again - only this time from the outside in. It becomes cathartic and the three of them gain a strength where before was infighting.
The beauty of this movie lays beyond the saffron and bright bold blues. The beauty is there in the growth, the emotion and the actual realizations that you come to, seeing a family become a family - maybe for the first time - in the face of loss. That being said, it's funny at times, poingiant at times and beautiful at times. I highly recommend it.
The IMDB Link
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