Nicole McLellan - "The Darjeeling Limited"

I thought this movie was pretty interesting. To sum it up quickly, three brothers, played by Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, and Jason Scwartzmann, decide to go on a journey through India. The brothers have not spoken in a year, and this trip is Francis’ attempt (Owen Wilson), to bring the brothers back together and experience some sort of spiritual journey together. It seems that each brother carries along with him on this journey some form of baggage, in the physical form and otherwise. The brothers all have matching suitcase, totaling eleven between the three of them. Their small room on the train they take through Inida is filled with them, and they carry them everywhere they travel to.

Throughout the film, the audience learns more and more about each of the brothers and their personal lives. To start off, their father died a year ago, and their mother did not come to the funeral. They apparently have not seen their mother in years. Peter Whitman, played by Adrien Brody, is about to become a father. His wife is pregnant with their first child (a boy), but he doesn’t seem very happy. Jack Whitman, played by Jason Schwartzmann, is dealing with an ex-girlfriend who he hasn’t seemed to get over yet. If you watch the short film called “Hotel Chevalier” that goes along with the movie beforehand it elaborates a little bit more on their troublesome relationship. Francis Whitman has bandages wrapped around his head throughout the entire movie because he was in some sort of motorcycle accident. There is also some drama going on between him and the mother, who is actually in India and whom the brothers have not seen in years. At one point in the movie, at some random stop on their journey, the brothers each make a phone call. One brother makes a call while the other brothers wait on the bench and talk about that brother’s problems. Interestingly enough, each brother makes a phone call to someone related to his problem. Peter calls his wife to see how she’s doing with the baby. Jack calls his ex-girlfriend’s answering machine to check her messages. I can’t remember exactly whom Francis calls, but I believe he may have called his assistant (who actually quit a few days before) to see about the plans to visit his mother.

One other scene that I thought was significant was when Francis begins to take off his bandages for the first time. He slowly unravels the bandage, revealing the numerous scratches and cuts underneath. Both brothers are present in this scene, standing beside him while he looks in the mirror. All three agree that the wounds have not yet healed, saying something along the lines of “Still got some healing left to do.” This scene is right before the brothers go to visit their mother. I thought it represented the journey they were on themselves. They had started to deal with their baggage and problems, but the healing process was not quite over yet. They still needed to visit their mother and resolve some things with her.

At the end of the movie, after visiting their mother and experiencing their crazy journey through India, the brothers begin to head home on a train. They are running to catch it because it has left without them, and they are each carrying a suitcase. There are three men running behind them carrying the rest of the eleven suitcases. They realize that they will not make it with the suitcases, so they toss the ones they have in their hands aside, jump on the train, and leave the rest with the three men who were helping them. I thought this scene was significant because it seems to represent the change that has happened in each one of them. Their baggage is no longer “baggage” anymore; they’ve experienced things and dealt with their problems somehow. At the end of their journey through India, they are free from their baggage, literally as well as figuratively.