Character Analysis
Another Nobody
Every man in this movie has a mustache. Think about it. Not including boys like the crippled shoeshine and Otto, or all of the random extras, every substantial male character has some flavor of upper-lip facial hair. This fact alone is the result of Anderson creating the aesthetic of the time—there's just nothing that speaks to the classy decadence of an early '30s Zubrowka more than a freshly groomed 'stache.
What is worth noting is the one main character who is 'stache-less: Zero Mustafa.
Obviously aware of his lack of manliness (or whatever it is a mustache brings to its beholder—wisdom, warmth, steez) he tries to assimilate by drawing on a, quite literally, pencil-thin mustache. This is Zero trying to fit in, putting on a façade, however thinly veiled it may be. A mustache is, it seems, a right which must be earned. It's something which, based on its shape, can tell us about the man who wears it… or the boy who does not.
However, Zero's lacking more than just facial hair. According to Gustave, he has no experience (all that time scrubbing skillets for nothing) and no education (apparently almost graduating primary school doesn't count for much in the cutthroat job market of the Zubrowkian tourism industry). Also, according to Zero himself, he has no family.
In fact, we later learn that his father was killed during the war in his home of Aq Salim al-Jabat, the rest of his family was executed by firing squad, and his village was burnt to the ground. Not only does Zero not have family, he doesn't have a home and, apart from his menial jobs, he has no identity in this foreign land. He is literally a zero.
Courage Incarnate
Just because Zero doesn't have the means of growing hair on his face, though, doesn't mean he is some innocent, naïve boy simply doing his duties and trying not to get in the way.
When we first meet Zero, that's exactly what we think of him: He meekly tries to follow Gustave's orders to a "t." We even get a montage of him being a quick, obedient worker as he applies Gustave's etiquette to his job.
Quickly, though, we realize there is more to Zero than being a subservient lobby boy. When standing alone with Gustave in front of Boy with Apple, he gives the concierge a suggestive look and then, without much hesitation, retrieves a nearby stool, prompting Gustave to take down the picture without having to use any words.
It's easy to forget who is truly behind the art theft—if you can call retrieving your rightfully inherited painting theft. The silliness and rashness of stealing Boy with Apple seems to match much more with the character of Gustave, and while it's Gustave who physically removes it, we can't forget that the whole art heist plan really started with Zero.
Zero's courage extends way beyond art-pilfering. When Gustave asks him if he's "ever been questioned by the authorities" Zero tells him that "on one occasion I was arrested and tortured by the rebel militia after the Desert Uprising" to which Gustave, in his typically egocentric way, responds: "You know the drill, then. Zip it."
To the viewer this exchange tells us a lot about Zero. Being captured and tortured by a group of armed men at war is no small thing, and neither is running through a barrage of fire in a hotel to save (or try to save, anyway… it's the thought that counts) Agatha from falling off the building. Zero exhibits some pretty courageous behavior on many occasions, even when it's ill-advised (like using a decorative sled to chase down a murderous psychopath).
The Historian
Finally, we can't forget about our other Zero, the older man known as Mr. Mustafa. By the time the late sixties roll around, Zero has grown a truly spectacular mustache… and a beard to match. (Overcompensation, perhaps?)
We meet Mustafa as a mysterious business mogul who was once the richest man in Zubrowka; we even get a glimpse of "some of the most lavish castles and palazzos on the continent" that he "famously inhabited." However, he has done away with his fortune to maintain the now unseemly and unprofitable Grand Budapest.
Zero seems to enjoy this piece of his past, not so much for his memories of the hotel itself—or even the one and only Gustave—but for his lost wife, Agatha:
THE AUTHOR: Is it simply your last connection to that banished world—his world, if you will?
MUSTAFA: His world? No, I don't think so. You see, we shared a vocation; it wouldn't have been necessary. No, the hotel I keep for Agatha. We were happy here, for a little while. To be frank, I think his world had vanished long before he ever entered it. But I will say, he certainly sustained the illusion with a marvelous grace.
The way he deals with the painful subject of their love remind us that Mustafa is not just a young protagonist in our story, but that it's really and truly his story.
Every character and place and event is shaped by the mind and the memory of Mustafa. We never get the sense that he is making things up, or deliberately deceiving the Author in any way, but we can't help noting his authority over everything. The viewer gets to watch as Mustafa rises from Zero to hero—from a penniless young nobody with no 'stache to speak of to an older lovelorn man with a beard full of memories.
Zero's Timeline