The Darjeeling Limited

The Darjeeling Limited is a pretty interesting movie. Especially in regards to how it shapes its themes. All three leads in the film all have gaping flaws that shine out through everything else, Francis (played by Owen Wilson) throws money around like water from a fountain and its made very detached from the people around him. Peter (portrayed by Adrien Brody) has a wife who is extremely pregnant but he opts to go on a trip to india with his brothers without telling her (this is something that even shocks his two brothers). Finally, there's Jack(played by Jason Schwartzmen) who is.... really good at picking up women.

The three brothers reunite after a year away from each other and try to enjoy a trip around India. The problems between them kick in as Francis starts ordering everything for the brothers and is oblivious to their displeasure. Francis seems to disregard the feelings of pretty much everybody (a serious case of Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense). http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RichInDollarsPoorInSense

This reaches it's tipping point when Francis buys and smuggles a poisonous cobra onto the train they're staying on and even after being caught with it still tries to talk his way out of trouble. (Funny how Owen Wilson basically plays the same character in everything he's in but here he's actually meant to be dislikeable).

Another valid reason for the brothers many issues is their mother who abandoned them years ago and continues to lie about wanting to make things better not even attending her husbands funeral which took place a year before the film began. It turns out that the real reason that Francis reunited with his siblings is to find her and he has located her in a temple in the Himalayas. In any other movie it would be a tear filled reunion with happy endings for all but here it's build up and then she's gone again cementing her status as a horrible mother. Her dreadful treatment of her sons is probably a huge contributor for their own issues and when she abandons them again it's made clear to both the audience and the brothers that the whole journey was a wild goose chase. They may want to be with her but she has no interest in that. At the end of the film the brothers run for the train but realise that they won't make it carrying all their luggage (say another word for luggage is baggage isn't it?) so they start dropping their “luggage” and run to successfully board the train leaving their “luggage” in India. (Do you get it?!!!)

Subtlety and symbolism don't exactly go hand in hand during certain scenes. The best example of this is a scene where the train the brothers are on is declared “lost” and Francis (with the subtlety of funnily enough, a trainwreck) outright states maybe we're they're the ones who are lost, thankfully Jack and Peter both look at him like he's grown a second head.

But apart from symbolism subtlety that is severely lacking the film definitely knows how to do itself very well and draws its audience in with strong character development and a genuine indication of the fact that these 3 brothers really are lost in a world that is doing zero to help them and it makes you care for them as a result and cheer when they conquer the things holding them down be it their egos, their horrid mother, the death of their father or everything else between India and their homes.