You see, there are still faint glimmers of civilization left in this barbaric slaughterhouse that was once known as humanity. Indeed that’s what we provide in our own modest, humble, insignificant… oh, fuck it.
– Gustave H in Grand Budapest Hotel

Blessed are moviegoers who encounter a delirious amalgam of a divine cast, splendid photography, delightful comedy, brilliant writing and an insanely original story like the Grand Budapest Hotel.

Having seen the trailer of Grand Budapest Hotel a couple of times, I entered the movie hall flush with lofty expectations and left richly rewarded beyond my wildest hopes.

Spirit Lifting

Wes Anderson directed the film and co-wrote the screenplay with Hugo Guinness. The final credits give thanks for inspiration to the works of Austrian writer Stefan Zweig (1881-1942), who killed himself in Brazil despairing over the future of humanity.

If you ask me, Grand Budapest Hotel is best described as a rich, classy comedy.

Set in the fictional Republic of Zubrowka, somewhere in the eastern Alps of Europe, the movie centers around the antics of the hotel’s concierge Gustave H (Ralph Fiennes) and the lobby boy Zero Moustafa (Tony Revolori plays the younger Zero and F. Murray Abraham the older version).

Our Gustave H is a concierge like no other.

Vain, superficial, insecure, and a penchant for sleeping with the hotel’s elderly blonde clientele, he is the one for whom words like sui generis and nonpareil were invented.

By the way, Gustave’s amatory inclinations head in both directions. In other words, the man is bisexual.

Zero Moustafa, a young, dark-skinned immigrant who’s fled the ravages of war in a distant backward nation, is the model lobby boy. Lips sealed, a brisk walk and anticipating the needs of guests before those needs rise to the surface.

And this unlikely pair zip through one escapade after another following the murder of Madame D (Tilda Swinton), theft of Boy with Apple and the intrusion of war.

Intensely fast-paced, the movie races through Gustave’s flings with elderly lovers,  escape from prison, careening down snowy mountains, theft of a priceless painting,  moving sacrifice and nostalgia for a vanished age.

The writing is top-notch and crackles with acid humor.

And surely a glittering cast like Ralph Fiennes, Bill Murray, F.Murray Abraham, Edward Norton, Adrian Brody, Saoirse Ronan, Jude Law, Tom Wilkinson, Willem Dafoe et al has never been seen together before in a single movie.

The rich and colorful setting of Grand Budapest Hotel – the hotel itself, the chase down the snowy mountain, prison and all – makes for a stunning visual feast.

Splendid Adventure

One cannot lavish too much praise on magnificent movie like Grand Budapest Hotel.

SearchIndia.com is thrilled to recommend this extraordinary adventure a.k.a. Grand Budapest Hotel to the rare few Indians who have the class to look beyond the Bollywood balderdash.

Grand Budapest Hotel is in wide release now and playing in theatres all across America!