i first saw this charming and enjoyable movie on my way back to manila from singapore in early july. end of august, i got another chance to watch it from emma and royd’s files. best marigold exotic hotel is about a group of british retirees who moved to a well-publicized hotel cum retirement home in india. the group included evelyn greenslade, a recently widowed housewife (judi dench); graham dashwood, a retiring judge (tom wilkinson); jean and douglas ainslie, a married couple looking for a smaller home (penelope wilton and bill nighy); norman cousins, an aged man looking for a new fling (ronald pickup); madge hardcastle, a doting grandmother wanting to find a new husband (celia imrie); and muriel dornelly, a racist former maid who needs hip replacement (maggie smith).
i expected it to be sappy and too sentimental. after all, it’s about old age and all the issues that have to do with aging and retirement. maybe brought on by previous movies, but when you say movies about life’s twilight years, flicks would be peppered with schmaltzy commotions on regret or compunction. however to my utter delight, best exotic marigold hotel wasn’t sentimental at all. ok, there were some scenes that actually were emotional and hollywoodish such as when jean leaves douglas to go back to england. but overall, old age wasn’t told as if it’s something to be disappointed about or to lament of yesteryears. yes, there may be past events that need to be taken care of, addressed and accepted but this doesn’t mean that individuals should bemoan of past experiences or wrong choices. it’s not something to be afraid of, rather embraced as part of this journey called life. old age should still be enjoyed, either to pursue a lifelong dream or to have more meaningful relationships.
india’s “dirty” and chaotic setting supplied the free-for-all mêlée, as well as the clash of the cultures, especially in the case of sonny (dev patel) and his mother. john madden’s superb directing and the intelligent script’s witty one-liners made it a joyous treat. most of all, its stellar cast gave life to this movie. because of its brilliant cast, it is funny and moving at the same time. it wouldn’t have been successful if it didn’t have the authenticity and hushed in-self toil of tom wilkinson’s graham who found his long lost love in india or the funny banter between celia imrie and ronald pickup. for sure, the central presence of judi dench and her evelyn’s newfound relationship with bill nighy’s douglas gave the movie its openness and warmth, while maggie smith’s at first bigoted muriel ending up as a catalyst for the hotel’s needed facelift provided the movie its requisite turnabout. this is a fine example of what they call exemplary acting ensemble.
dealing with old age over there in england is evidently a lot different from what we practice here in the philippines. the might of an extended family and innate close family ties mean that our lolos and lolas rarely need to think about finding a retirement home when they reach that age. through this movie, i also realized that europe’s aging population can be a good business opportunity for the philippines. while thailand lords over medical tourism right now, retirement homes can be another good opening in the country. pinoys can set up these oldie-friendly retirement homes, have retirees move here, where they can still do a lot of other things to while away time. it can be taking part of NGOs or to volunteer in good causes such as on education or health-related projects. second tier and not-too crowded cities such as dumaguete, negros oriental or legazpi, albay can house these western retirees. pinoys’ instinctive aptitude to care for aged persons will work well in this setting.
certainly, aging is a real issue and like i’ve said, cultures have varied ways to deal with this. what’s good with this movie is its humor-y approach to retirement, it didn’t feel contrived at all and it actually left me that feeling of delight and uplift-ment.
“sonny: everything will be all right in the end... if it's not all right then it's not the end.”
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