That's it - Time to go - I've had a blast, but this is the end - search the internet and I'm sure yo...
That's it - Time to go - I've had a blast, but this is the end - search the internet and I'm sure you'll find me - Yours IamtheHumanRace
Member since:15.07.2000
Reviews:123
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From beginning to end this is a masterpiece of epic film-making. It charts the life of the arguably greatest world leader who never was a world leader.
The climactic funeral procession was advertised in India and people came out, unexpectantly, to attend in their tens of thousands. The Indian government and the relations all praised the efforts and proclaimed it a perfect tribute to their leader. Even while the cynics of the western world seek desperately to attack this movie as "only Indian people can celebrate Gandhi and we are evil, attention-seekers to try to do this ourselves" the scale of the movie is incredible. This is not an attention-seeking film - it is a poignant memorial to a great man. The film was directed by Richard Attenborough with help from Gandhi direct relations. It also is no holds barred in its portayal of the English and to some extent what became the Pakistanis.
John Geiguld plays immpeccably a dismissive English governor and throughout the movie to the script is written around the words of Gandhi and the situations he became involved in from the beginnings in South Africa to the torture and massacre in India.
The film charts the skill of a great political man, a loyal family man and covers in exceptional detail his ideas on non-confrontation and passive resistance.
I believe the main power of this film is that while we can clearly see the English are the tyrants they are not made out to be the simple "Hollywood" villains and neither is it a assault on the English occupation. The fact the English are portayed as entirely dismissive and that they feel they are helping makes the film believable. The English did feel they were instilling civilisation into the country and it is precisely this which makes the story so tragic, inspiring and compelling. Even if you are not the person to sit through a 3 hour epic film then this will change your mind.
A word about Ben Kingsley (who plays Gandhi) for those who know this actor - he is from the old Shakespearean acting school along with the likes of Sir John Geiguld, Patrick Stewart, Lawrence Olivier, Richard harris amongst others and it is the discipline of this school which makes Ben Kingsley perfect for this role. Added to this is his uncanny ability to impersonate people. He starved himself and tanned himself and then even learnt how to weave his own clothes - the research for this film was planned in minutiae. On the DVD there are plenty of actual film clips of Gandhi himself and there is hardly any difference between Gandhi and Ben Kingsley - you will have to see for yourself - it is remarkable.
I am particuarly wary of these type of biopic films, however this is an astounding film. So take an evening and learn something. As the great man says "I always have thought that in time the truth always has a habit of making itself known."
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