Hotel Mumbai

Set during the November 2008 terrorism attacks across Mumbai, this sometimes brutal look at the events that occurred in one hotel over a few hours is visceral and brutal. It’s inevitably scaled down and does tend to concentrate on a couple of key experiences, but, probably partially due to Dev Patel being one of the lead actors and a producer, it isn’t a film that completely ignores the Indian perspective of an event that took place in India. As a pure visceral experience this works pretty well – the tension continually mounting as various characters attempt to sneak by the strolling gunmen – and there’s some interesting character moments in several places (in particular, the terrorists get various humanising moments as they talk to their parents, and quibble between themselves, but are still terrifyingly merciless against the various hotel staff and guests). Patel absolutely holds the film together as a waiter whose continuous bravery is unquestioned, and there’s strong support particularly from Anupuam Kher as the hotel’s head chef. Armie Hammer and Jason Isaacs seem to be coming in from a slightly more conventional take on the film as, respectively, genial American and disreputable Russian guests (though Hammer at least plays within the general realist nature of the film, Isaacs tends to ham it up a little). It’s an illuminating look at an event that has slipped in the collective memory to become one more overseas disaster, viscerally and vigorously presented.