Pushing Up Marigolds

For months at my favorite artsy movie theater there has been a large display advertising the film “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.”  The poster's visuals baffled me, but the cast alone was a ringing endorsement for this film.  I worried that Dev Patel’s presence in a movie set in India might be an attempt to rip off the success and formula of “Slumdog Millionaire.”  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The good news is that "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" is a lovely and entertaining film that will likely garner several nominations at Oscar Time. 

It is a film about senior citizens taking a sudden turn late in life.  The cast--led by Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, and one of my favorites, Bill Nighy—play complex, well-crafted roles.  The characters are slow moving against the backdrop of society, especially the bustling vendors in Jaipur; I found myself relaxing along with them as they adapt to their new lifestyles.  Without dropping any spoilers, there are a series of ironies and unexpected events, but they unfold gently and sweetly.  And despite high production values and John Madden (Shakespeare In Love) as director, it stays, appropriately, a small and quiet film.  Likely to attract an older demographic, it could be considered to have therapeutic value.  Even my blood pressure was lower by the end of the film!

But to pass this off as a film exclusively for sixty- and seventy-somethings is to miss the point.  It conveys a very pointed message about society’s treatment of the elderly.  Coming from all walks of life, this assortment of retired misfits fights back after being dismissed by their own families and employers as “no longer useful” or discovering that they do not have the means to live out their well-established lives.  Transplanted and lonely, each is forced to re-examine his or her own self image, discovering in the process a reserve of untapped strength and resources.  They fight back against expectations placed on them by society and each other, arriving at last at a far, far better place.  It is a reminder to us all not to marginalize our elders.

This film made me consider my own impending golden years, reminding me to do a more deliberate job of planning for the future.  It also evoked the images of my wonderful grandparents (my grandfather worked into his 70s) and even my great-grandmother, who I was fortunate to know into my young adulthood—until her 100^th year.   “Bubbie,” as we called her, was a jewel of a lady who loved to talk to me about evolving women’s rights.  Having seen firsthand when women won the right to vote, she liked to share her observations with me throughout the 70s when the Women’s Movement was in full swing.  I recall her saying, “What are women fighting for?  They have so much now.”  She loved to hold my hands between hers, remarking that they warmed her cold veins.

Some people will see “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” and find it a fanciful portrayal of the elderly.  I see it as a reaffirmation of the human spirit.  It left me hoping that when the time comes I, too, will reinvent life with resilience and dignity.

Tomorrow's blog:  Going Cave Man