Philosophy of Darjeeling Limited

I watched the movie for the first time last night, so I haven't let the movie work it's way through my brain's endless analysis. But it has consumed me enough to where I felt I should expound on it here.

I love movies that entail spiritual journeys. Not necessarily those with very general, very hit-you-over-the-head agendas, but those films that send their characters on journey's of spiritual enlightenment. With that said, I think you could constitute a very large number of films that could fit that definition. You just have to stop and think about them.

I love how the characters in Darjeeling Limited set off on a spiritual journey and just seem to get it wrong. They feel as if all they need to do is travel to a perceived holy land to obtain it. I would think real spiritual enlightenment comes from within, wherever you are at the moment.

And the characters have little patience in such matters of importance. They feel as if they just follow a few instructions or kneel for a short time, they will obtain spiritual enlightenment almost instantly. I would imagine this comes from how they were raised. You never see the father, but I surmise he was well off and that his kids are set for life. Several clues lead to this hypothesis. First, none of them seem to work. And they seem to take matters of money very lightly, spending money like crazy on snakes and personal assistants. Schwartzmen's character is able to afford a large hotel bill and the father drove an expensive sports car.

I think it's safe to say that money and their parents have spoiled the main characters to the point where material possessions may be the key to their spiritual struggle. In fact, by the end of the movie, when they're racing to catch the train, they cast off their luggage they've been humorously carrying the whole film as if they are freeing themselves from that bondage.

And speaking of parents, in a freudian analysis, I really enjoyed how through the whole movie, you were led to believe that the father may have been the root cause of all their problems. They mysteriously only refer to him vaguely and always in such a positive light, as if they haven't quite gotten over his death. By the end, when we finally meet the mother they've been searching for, you realize the similarities between the mother and her children are uncanny and she displays the same behaviors the kids have been displaying throughout the whole movie. I.E. Running away from spouses and kids, Controlling people by setting an itinerary. And the fact that she's on her own spiritual quest is what the entire movie is about.

I'm sure there's a deeper level of philosophical meaning behind the movie that could be explored. But in a nutshell, what rises to the surface after a night's sleep is just as compelling as the movie itself.