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Biographical India Poverty Prejudice

"Gandhi" features Ben Kingsley as Mahatma Gandhi, the world's leading proponent of non-violent revolution. This is a biography but Gandhi's life was so intertwined with the political events that went on in his country that this couldn't help but being a political film.

The film begins in New Delhi, India in 1948 and, strangely enough, with the death of the guy that is the film's featured topic. Mahatma takes several bullets in the chest and we cut from there to the funeral. While we're watching the events of the funeral we listen to a voiceover that describes Gandhi and explains exactly the sort of person he was and what impact his life has had on the world. :} The movie provides its own "spoiler".

Cut to a much younger Mahatma riding through South Africa on a train. Gandhi's not real thrilled with the idea of being forced to ride in third class when he's paid for first. The folk running the train have other ideas regarding folk the color of Mahatma so his protests land him on the ground outside of the train. Once he's arrived at his destination, Mahatma wastes no time in organizing a demonstration designed to assist similarly hued people to gain equality under South African law and ends up getting himself beaten and tossed in jail for his efforts. In addition to jail time, Gandhi's protest does cause many, similarly minded folk to organize and support him in his efforts. Amongst these folk are a white clergyman named Charlie Andrews {Ian Charleson} and Martin Sheen, in the form of a reporter named Vince Walker.

Mahatma's movement gets pretty big pretty fast and the British waste no time in coming down on the rebellion. In the ensuing fracas, some of the rebels decide that violence is a pretty appropriate response to their treatment but Gandhi manages to convince them that "turning the other cheek" is probably a better answer to the problem and that simply refusing to comply with demands is probably the best way to deal with them. The British do get pretty insistent and, eventually, most of the local Indian population ends up populating the local prison. The British aren't getting a lot of work done by prisoners so the "problematic" legislation winds up being rescinded.

Cut to Bombay, India in 1915 and Gandhi's homecoming. After a bit of exploration, Gandhi is suitably horrified by the conditions of his country which causes him to throw himself whole-heartedly in to the "Free India" movement. As is the case in most revolutionary wars, things get a bit heated and rough and many people die. Much of this happens before the intermission.

This movie is one hundred and eighty eight minutes long so it's going to take you a bit of time to watch. You may find the intermission to be nicely convenient. This attempts to give us an accurate depiction of Gandhi's life, as well as some of the events of the South African and Indian revolutions, and does a very nice job of it. There are many moving minutes and several touching moments here as well as a few great performances by folk like: John Gielgud, Amrish Puri and Candice Bergen. The image quality is great, the sets, as well as the location shoots, are beautiful and there's not a role on either side that's badly played. The production is impeccable. This is a wonderful film that's an appropriate tribute to a great man.

In addition to Best Picture, Gandhi won academy awards for Film Editing {John Bloom}, Cinematography {Billy Williams and Ronnie Taylor} and Costume Design {John Mollo and Bhanu Athaiya}. Ben Kingsley won Best Actor for his performance as Gandhi. It was produced by Richard Attenborough.