Review of Gandhi (1982) by Jermaine M — 24 Nov 2013

Gandhi Movie Review.

One of the great men of this century would have to be Mohandas K. Gandhi, a little fellow with the biggest heart who refused to give in. His determination to fight prejudice, repression and tyranny took him on a life long journey that humbled the British Empire and established independence for his beloved fellow Indians. Throughout his battle for freedom, Gandhi always obeyed his personal creed of non-violence - for both himself and his at-times hot-headed supporters. Gandhi is an epic, in the true sense of the word, and goes for more than three hours. And yet, while at times it does slow, you are always enticed onwards by Ben Kingsley's stunning display of acting.

The guy definitely made himself Gandhi - in look, voice and characteristics - and deservedly won his golden statue for the effort. The movie itself took out eight Oscars, not to mention a horde of other prestigious awards. Gandhi follows the life of the peaceful revolutionary from his journey to South Africa where he discovered that being articulate, intelligent and a trained lawyer cut very little ice with the boorish South African regime. Back in his home country, Gandhi found that the independence movement was split along Hindu/Muslim lines and the poor were despicably treated by those with money. Sir Richard Attenborough clearly was awestruck by Gandhi the man and - together with Kingsley - has turned him into a saint. Perhaps he is portrayed as being just a little too perfect, but you can forgive Attenborough going over the top. After all, how can you not be a tad impressed with a bloke who decides to try to starve himself to death so his supporters will stop committing acts of violence? One of the most telling scenes is where a wild-eyed Hindu confesses to Gandhi he had killed a child by bashing its brains out. Gandhi, weak from lack of food, says he will be forgiven if he takes into his care another child. Only it had to be Muslim and he had to raise it as one.

There is no doubt in mind that this movie has a lot to do with our class and the subjects that we cover. We actually talk about Gandhi in our studies so that is one of the main reasons why I selected this movie because I felt that it was something that should be shown. This movie deals with religion, culture different culture movements. It deals with sacrifice and shows different ways that his religion goes about the daily life. You get the opportunity to see another religion from a positive and well respected point of view.