Daissy Lizeth Zambrano B.

Especialización 2

REVIEW OF THE MOVIE “THE HUNDRED - FOOT JOURNEY”

The movie “The hundred - foot journey” was released on

August 2014, and it is based on a novel with the same title
written by Richard Morais. The plot is about Kadam family,
they lived in Mumbai (India) but due by political conflict, their
house was burnt and they had to migrate to Europe. When
they arrived to France, father Kadam discovered an abandoned
restaurant, and he decided to install “Maison Mumbai”, a
place to sell Indian food, but this new restaurant is located just
100-foot of distance from "Le Saule Pleureur", a french
restaurant with a Michelin star. Its owner, Madame Mallory
did several things to discredit the “Maison Mumbai”. However,
Hassam (one of the sons of Mr Kadam), who inherited the
culinary skills from his mother, wanted to work in "Le Saule
Pleureur", Madame Mallory noticed that he was so talented,
and a few months later he was working in Paris in one of the most important restaurants, but after
having fame and recognition, he decided to return to work with his father in collaboration with
Madame Mallory.

The first aspect that I liked from this movie is the fact of living in another country and adapting to
different costumes and culture. Sometimes we live in our own bubble, knowing only the basics
from the reality around us, having an entire world to discover. When Kadam family had to travel to
Europe after the incident in their house, they had to accept the new costum in France. But in the
other hand, the father wanted to continue practising their tradition, in this case cooking Indian
food. Perseverance and hope of the father allowed him to progress and adapt to the new
environment which they arrived.

Another important aspect is the fact that Hassan could prove that he was an excellent cook, even
though Madame Mallory believed at the beginning that her cuisine could not be compared with
Indian cuisine from Kadam family. Hassan always trusted in his beliefs, his tradition and his
abilities, so that he was managed to be one of the best cooks in France. Although time later he
began to forget their origins because he was working in prestigious restaurants, in the end he
realized that the recognition and fame come and go, but family and tradition are those that
remain and make sense to life.

The only negative aspect is that I would have liked that Maison Mumbai had more recognition in
the story, after the second half of the movie the family Kadam and the restaurant go to the
background, and then it emphasized in the life of Hassan.

My final opinion is that “The hundred-foot journey” is a different movie, it highlights important
aspects such as tradition, family, teamwork, the struggle to fulfill the dreams and triumphs,
besides it shows various delicious dishes of the French and Indian cuisines.