The Darjeeling Limited

What a thoroughly enjoyable film to watch. The Darjeeling Limited is about the haphazard spiritual journey of three brothers: Francis (Owen Wilson) Peter (Adrian Brody) and Jack (Jason Schwartzman). They are all at a crossroads in their lives, especially Francis. He has just been in a life-threatening accident and wants to make the most of the time he has here and now. So he gets his estranged brothers (they don't speak much) and they go on a journey through India on a train, the Darjeeling Limited.

These brothers have not seen each other since their father's funeral (which their mother did not show up to), and now are learning to reconnect. They all have their secrets and pains in life, and they are trying to guard themselves from each other. Francis planned the trip through India to see spiritual places, temples/shrines, gurus, etc. They are three Westerners trying their best to experience the spirituality of an Eastern worldview. This is pathetic, funny, interesting, and fascinating. It echoes Ecclesiastes 3:11, "He has also set eternity in the hearts of men." God created us all to be spiritual beings, and to desire something beyond ourselves. These brothers epitomize that. They are searching for something bigger, something beyond themselves. It is sad to think that they grew up in a "Christian" country, yet had to travel to the other side of the globe in search of "spirituality." We as Christ-followers had let them down. One particular ritual takes center stage in the film, this being the one involving the peacock feather. The first time they try, each brother does the ritual differently, and they all end up angry and flustered. Ah, man's futility in trying to reach God. We must realize that it is about God reaching down to us, not the other way around. He is the gracious initiator.

Yet the trip does provide the brothers with truth and wisdom. They learn about themselves, and each other, in a way that they had never done before. Each man is struggling to not let others in to his true heart, yet (through gossip, ironically) each is laid bare before his brothers and becomes vulnerable. This is always a good thing. One particular incident, involving saving children from a rushing river, brings their trip to a head. They come face to face with humanity at its rawest. Though they do not speak the Indians' language, and the Indians do not speak theirs, there is a profound connection between the two groups. Though these Americans are continents away from home and everything they know, all the cultural walls come down and a fundamental human love is reached. It is a truly beautiful thing. And this epiphany of shared humanity inspires the brothers to continue on their own pilgrimage, one involving their past.

The Darjeeling Limited does a fantastic job of walking the lines between awkward, funny, touching, and authentic. As with all Wes Anderson films (The Life Aquatic, Royal Tenenbaums, Rushmore, etc.), life is at once real, strange, inspiring, gawky, and unrefined. His film feels more real and less staged than a normal film, it captures the oafishness of our lives and of all humanity. Darjeeling reminds us of our futile attempts to connect to the divine, our pathetic attempts at hiding our faults and scars, and yet, in the end, reminds us of our shared humanity, our shared pains, and our shared victories. Wes Anderson has made his best film to date.