The comedy-drama movie “Darjeeling Limited”, starring Wes Anderson from 2007, follows Peter Whitman’s character and his brothers Francis, and Jack. The Darjeeling Limited in India is where the three brothers meet up after an entire year without seeing eachother. The Darjeeling Limited takes them on a spiritual search to find their selves and discover what’s unknown. Francis, after being in a near death motorcycle accident, Francis organised for his brothers to catch-up and be closer once again. He planned their day-to-day activities while traveling across the country. Peter and Jack are frustrated with Francis’s control, and their tempers start to boil. They also have arguments and fights. After being thrown off the bus, they continue to look for their mum. She had written a letter stating that she would not be seeing them. They finally find her. She brings them in like they’ve never been apart. The following morning, however, they learn that she has left.
The first thing we see early in the movie is a train. This is because we discover that the three brothers have embarked on a spiritual search and that this train will take them to India and help them find themselves. Francis, Peter, Jack and their suits are seen in the cabin, being asked for their tickets. After that, they receive a sweet lemon and a dot of red on their foreheads, which signifies the start to their’spiritual trip’. While carrying luggage with their initials on it and other items belonging to their deceased father, they all grieve. The items they carry are expensive and have a special meaning to them. When Francis loses his expensive shoe at the very first stop of the train, he is devastated. Francis is now on a spiritual journey and has found himself. He replaces his expensive shoes with a shoe he purchased from an Indian market. The film is divided into two journeys. One is a journey of spiritual discovery for the brothers. And the other is to discover the important things in life. In addition to the towns, they also visit temples, which help the brothers find themselves or take the first steps to finding themselves.
Francis, Peter and their friend Jack got thrown out of the train for a fight. After walking around with all their luggage they saw three children helping each other to cross a stream. But the rope snapped. And the kids were in trouble. Francis, Peter, Jack and their entire luggage are forgotten as they jump in the river, trying to save three kids. Peter drags the child and himself down the river under water. They then fall off the small waterfall and onto the child he was trying to save. Peter picks him up and the three brothers return to the village with the kids, leaving behind their luggage. This is a significant step for them in discovering what’s most important to their lives. They are soon given their stuff back and are just about to board a bus the next morning to go home when they receive an invitation to the funeral of the child.
They flash back to a year earlier, to when the brothers last saw each other in a limousine as they drove to their father’s funeral. At that time, the brothers were materialistic. The brothers were on their way to their father’s funeral when they stopped to pick up the nice car. They took everything that was his, Jack said “this is mine”. Then, in current time, it is clear the changes the three brothers made from when they started on the ‘Darjeeling Limited. They head to the Airport after this and it appears that their quest to find out who they are, what they value, is over. Francis takes a moment to show his brothers his scars from the attempted suicide accident. Francis tells his brothers that they may need to heal a bit more. His brother replies that the journey has been a success. The quotes are a double-meaning as all of them have come a very long way on a personal and brotherly level.
They were also able to follow through with the quotes, as they had to tear up their tickets when they boarded the plane. Then they continued on their healing and spiritual quest to find and visit their mother. As they approached their mother’s tiny palace, she welcomed the brothers in like it had been just yesterday. She explained to the brothers that she was leaving because ‘these are people who need me’. With this, they went home and made breakfast for their mother. But when they woke up, she was gone. They are now able to move forward and have closure in that they have taken another step towards healing.
Peter always keeps his things with him. Peter’s father’s glasses are a constant in the movie. He wears them to see the world from his fathers perspective, even though they still have prescriptions.
Comments are closed.