The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was a surprise hit that captured the heart of many people. The movie is basically a Who's Who in the British acting scene. With a cast including Maggie Smith, Judie Dench, Penelope Winton, Bill Nighy etc you are basically watching an acting masterclass playing out on screen. The original presented points of difference that eventually converged and wrapped up the plots nicely, the second entry needed to branch out and converge again to just tell the stories. The end result was some broken characters and story lines that you felt they were going nowhere. This is not a criticism of the performance of the cast but a script that is over ambitious and eventually failed to deliver.

The premise of the story was quite natural although I did question about the timing of the back drop but then if the foundation was questioned nothing would make sense anymore. The themes seemed to be about moving on and re-establishing but the pace felt like plotting along and see what's happening. The first movie had circumstantial triggers that led to determination. But in the second movie most of the cast seemed lost and trying to go through rediscovery again. This could be true as they were adjusting to life in a completely different country while at the same time trying to find new meaning on top of the meaning they had discovered in the first movie.  Circumstance wise Maggie Smith’s character had taken the centre stage although the story was more about Dev Patel as the protégé who was trying to pursue further success. It did wrap up nicely by Maggie Smith declaring it is time for his adventures. As for other characters, I particularly had issue about the merry-go-round type relationship between Judi Dench’s character and Bill Nighy’s character. Why must it take so many people and so many coincidences to actually get something happening? They found what is missing in the first moving and then should just get on with the program. Some could argue it is because of the timeframe of the movie in the chronology but then still they are retired people do they have that much time to drag on “When Harry Met Sally” style? The storylines for other characters progressed in a similar fashion making me wondering,  “how many of those thread balls do I need to follow and catch up with to find out what is going to happen?” It was not particularly thrilling even though I admired all the acting powerhouses on display.

Dev Patel’s character was without a doubt the sore in my eyes throughout the whole movie. The upbeat optimistic character that was built up in the first movie that cast rays of sunshine to the whole theme was gone completely. What was left was a hollow and annoying character that you just need to take deep breaths again and again to get through his scenes. Again this is not a criticism of his ability but the demolishing of a well-built character that suddenly is going nowhere.  I understand that in the first movie they might not have sufficient time to build all the backstories and flash out all the relationships but that was the beauty of it. I accepted the characters as who they are and did not feel like I need to know more about them because everything was nicely introduced in the first few scenes. In this instalment, the try-hard approach to create more flesh and blood characters in my opinion turned most of the well created characters into bloody messes. For me character building is circumstantial and if you need to force a back story that eventually dragged the development of both the characters and the plot then it is better to just leave them alone making space for good memories for the audience. I personally would prefer the plot to be about further discoveries that excited them so providing more opportunities for both funny and serious moments. They can still question their own mortality, relationships and other things, but in the context of an exciting brave new world.  Getting too serious for the sake of getting too serious just did not cut it for me.

It seems that I had lots of criticisms for this movie but that is because I completely adored the first one and had extremely high expectations when such a stellar cast agreed to sign on for more. It might be unfair to the movie on my side but then that’s what you created when you have such kind of project in your hands. I still like a lot of great punch lines that were scattered around in the script (and mostly delivered by the extraordinary Maggie Smith in a casual throw away manner) and this shows the quality of writing. I was just hoping for a more positive view of things without dragging into the past all the time and fireworking all kinds of melodrama because that was not what the first movie was about.

For me I would watch the first movie again and again (and I did and still got great laughs and tears from it) but for “The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” it really is just as its title suggested “The Second Best”.

C is for Care

Been back working at the hospital for a few weeks now. Initially I hesitated to go back. It is not a position I am interested in and definitely not my career aspiration. However, I have a special spot for this hospital because of personal experience and that was why I joined the project in the first place. I care about the vision and do wish the vision might eventually come true. True in a sense of real vision accomplished not any shallow media fanfare. But still at times I wonder whether the fact that I care is enough or not.

Back at the frontline helping patients is an experience that is completely different from sitting in the office putting systems and work processes together. You are actually part of the service equation that hopefully makes the day of a suffering patient better. You might not be the person to provide diagnosis or advice about treatment, or provide the actual treatment. But I believe by doing your little bit to them you help contribute making their difficult days a little bit better. I cannot say of other people but that was the reason why I agreed to go back.

The truth is no matter how important one is we cannot fight the natural process of aging and sickness. Especially for sickness as it strikes people at all ages and it is one of the most indiscriminative thing in this world. Every time you see a frail body frame coming towards you, you need to think about how you can make it better. I think this is what this hospital is about. Nobody can control the outcome but just making the journey a little bit easier could shed a little bit of light on a dark road.

One of the most important things I learned this time round is that you might think how unfortunate you are in terms of career, friendship, relationship etc. etc. but when it comes down to health nothing beats it. When I had one of the patients coming to me and thanked me for just greeting him and acknowledging his presence and then told me he felt that now he could make it to Easter to visit his sister in Perth because he wants to see her as much as possible while he can, you just have no words to complain about your own life. Does that mean I am not unhappy about certain things? No but it put me into a different perspective and appreciate what I have a lot better. And as you dealt with more people and listening to them you understand if these patients have the courage and determination to fight a seemingly unfightable battle that doesn’t seem to have an end at this stage, you can’t help but wonder why am I spending time moaning over things that are so much more trivial compared to these patients.

When I bid farewell to patients and their carers I dealt with I usually like to close off with either “Have a good rest of the day” or “Have a great weekend”. Most of them would appreciate and say thanks and some would say they would try. I didn’t say that because I want an anchor style closing but I do hope their days would get better.

Some people asked me where did I find the patience and energy to deal with situations – the answer is simple – I am truly interested in making a difference. I don’t expect everyone to have the same aspiration because that is just being unrealistic. But I do hope everyone would have a think about why they are working there and remember the motto displayed on their phones – Uncompromising Care – because only through real commitment the vision can become a reality. For me if people do not have a heart to make a positive difference to cancer care in whatever capacity they are working in, maybe it is time to think about whether this is the right place for them.

It is of course hard to keep everyone happy. However we don’t know what these patients are going through and if there is a tiny bit of thing that could make their days better without compromising our integrity, service standards or legal compliance why over-sweating about them? At the end of the day this could be a process anyone of us could go through. The hospital lost a valuable employee through the same sickness the hospital is trying to treat this year. I heard stories about how she soldiered on to deliver great care and services to patients in need while she was very sick. I personally think this should be the standard for everyone who is providing health care services.

I might be a bit too idealistic as we live in a real world but if I could stay idealistic and make a tiny bit of difference why not? You never know whether one day you could become that catalyst that sparks future changes. Yet again this sounds idealistic but I stand by it.