India, for me, represents a sort of amalgam of a holy place and a fairy tale. It has long been a dream of mine to visit India and take a holy pilgrimage, of sorts. I’m well aware that things like the plague are still prevalent there, but I think that is all part of the, for lack of a better term, charm.

In my mind, India’s rich religious history coupled with its, even today, untamed natural wildness makes the country seem like no other place on earth. This opinion has been confirmed to me by both Indians and Westerners who have visited there. A professor of mine once told me of a summer when he spent 2 months in India. He went with no itinerary and no real idea about what he would do once there. He did know someone who lived there, but he admitted to me that he was in a state of near anxiety for his entire trip because of how different from his normal life it was.

So one can hardly fault me for proclaiming (even before I have seen it) the new Wes Anderson film to be one of the five greatest films ever made. The mystical algebra works thusly…

Wes Anderson + (Jason Schwartzman*Owen Wilson*Adrien Brody)

—————————————————————————————————— = greatest film of all time

India + a train

But I suppose not everyone shares my near maniacal fixation with all things India. Nevertheless, I give to you this trailer, so you might judge for yourself…