Ellington

"The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," based on Deborah Moggach's novel, "These Foolish Things," meditates on life after retirement. The movie blends touches of Eastern philosophy with British wit and irreverence. In the movie, seven elderly British citizens journey to the outskirts of Jaipur, the pink city of India. Bright colors, aromatic smells, a riot of noise, a crushing sea of life, and a crumbling hotel assault their conventional thinking and senses. The proprietor of the hotel (Dev Patel) tells them not to worry, explaining with a head bob and faux Eastern platitudes that "everything will be alright in the end, and if it is not alright, then it is not the end." So you might think that once everything is alright, then it is the end, and you might be right ... or not.

The movie opens on our seven wise and worn warriors of life. Muriel (Maggie Smith), a racist curmudgeon, hates all things black and brown, but can only afford a new hip operation in India. To walk again, she must brave the trip in a wheelchair. She's mean, grumpy and formidable. Graham (Tom Wilkinson), an ivory tower high-court judge, retires his position and heads back to India where he grew up. Evelyn (Judi Dench), recently widowed, sells her home to pay off debts and plunges into an exotic excursion to the befuddlement of her grown children. Norman (Ronald Pickup) and Madge (Celia Imrie) head to India to find love (or at least get frisky). Douglas (Bill Nighy) and Jean (Penelope Wilton), who have been married for almost 40 years, lose their retirement savings after their daughter's dot.com business goes bust, so they buy a one way ticket to what they believe from the brochure to be a fine retirement establishment. Their problems extend beyond money. Jean henpecks her husband, criticizes anything new and constantly reminds Douglas: "When I want your opinion, I will give it to you."

Brought together by their secrets, these retirees converge at the airport. Expectations are high, but if you have ever traveled to India, you know that no plane departs or arrives on schedule. When their plane to Jaipur is delayed, this mishmash of Brits rally together, squish into a crowded Tata bus and head for lushness. Instead of glory and decadence in an exotic land, they find an old building with cracks, cobwebs, dust, no doors, poor plumbing, no telephone service and fast-talking proprietor Sonny (Patel).

Evelyn keeps a blog of her adventures, so the Exotic Marigold Hotel must have Internet services (or she's pirating on someone else's). Her blogs conjured up memories of my trip to India in 1990, where the entire Modak family and one Modak-Truran went to visit my relatives in Delhi and Calcutta. When Evelyn blogs that to understand India you have to dive in, I understood what she meant. It's an incredibly complex culture of old and new, rich and poor and extremes without middle ground.

John Madden ("Shakespeare in Love") directs with a kind of benign precision, which is satisfying here because of the phenomenal depth of his performers. The cast is irreproachable. They are fluid and smooth. Although the script is stiff from one too many subplots, this fine cast grounds the simple moments.

The other character in this film is India herself. India's bright colors and fairy-tale vividness are intoxicating. India offers the ultimate challenge, and this film tells us that no one is too old to overcome obstacles and find meaning. "If it's not alright, it's not the end," and that gives you something to change. "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" revives dead dreams and passions. It's an exhilarating change from the big-budget blow-em-ups.