A Spiritual Journey: The Darjeeling Limited
As you may know, I find Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited (which includes Hotel Chevalier) to be his best and most artistic film to date. The film offers fertile ground for interpretations, observations, and discussion through its masterful use of ambiguity and understatement.
For me, the movie is, first and foremost, about the realities associated with an intentional spiritual journey:
() the decision to undertake a journey
() gestures of spirituality
() failure/absurdity
() moment of transformation and/or enlightenment
() the question of what, if anything, has actually changed in the journeyed person
The latter point/question haunts me, although I take courage from this: Failure, disconnection, and suffering do not abate; however, the person who seeks to embrace life, face the self, and connect with others, despite these challenges, seems to gain access to a kernel of goodness that is at the centre of being/being human. Simply put, I see that, although they continue to suffer, the Whitman’s are transformed by their journey (albeit incrementally).
On a more general note, there are some elements in The Darjeeling Limited that could have been treated more subtly (father’s baggage, “I guess I have some more healing to do”), however for me these elements do not detract significantly. They are the raw in the raw and the cooked.
The writers seem to address these elements by simultaneously pointing to them and joking about them. Example: the scene where the train is lost. Francis says “Isn’t that symbolic?! We haven’t located us yet. . Where are those feathers at? . . . ” Being lost on the way allows the Whitman’s another attempt to confront themselves and one another, as well as their past and their fears—and their hopes. Regardless of how awkward the symbols are, they contribute to the spiritual journey of Francis, Peter, and Jack. The obvious, the awkward, and the mundane—not only the cataclysmic—play a role in changing a person.
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