To understand the devil, you have to look into his eyes

Rating: 10/10 (10 April 2019)

There are few movies that have moved me as much as Hotel Mumbai. Based upon true events, it shows how Pakistani Islamist terrorists attack numerous locations in the Indian metropolis of Mumbai. The showdown takes places in the prestigious Taj Mahal Palace Hotel where personnel and guests fight for survival.
The film offers a short and concise introduction that gives us an idea how the terrorists proceed to attack as many places as possible to assassinate as many victims as they could. We are also introduced to numerous characters that will end up in the hotel from a rich family over escaping backpackers to a dedicated server from a poor neighbourhood. The events in the hotel start taking place about thirty minutes into the film and the following ninety minutes are filled with incredible tension, brutal acts of violence and an oppressive atmosphere of despair. The film only slows down in the final few minutes that offer a brief tearjerking conclusion. Once the credits roll, the audience will be shook and speechless.
This movie is a statement against terror by showing how incredibly devastating such acts are. In its intensity, it reminds of Roman Polanski's The Pianist which portrays the horrors of the Holocaust best. Hotel Mumbai is so brutal, intense and thrilling that it shouldn't be watched by children or teenagers but only by adults with a very strong stomach. Despite the obvious violence, the movie is equally emotional and intellectual. The audience empathizes with the desperate victims. The conclusion leads us to think that no other species in the world does as much harm to its own kind than human beings do to one another. The only way to stop such horrible actions is through peaceful education. Ironically, this honest movie contributes to such peaceful education by exposing such sickening degrees of violence. In order to understand the devil, you have to look into his eyes.