FilmJudge - Gandhi

REVIEW

Gandhi
1982
Certificate: PG | Runtime: 188 | Director: Richard Attenborough
Starring: Ben Kingsley, Candice Bergen, John Gielgud

On a train in South Africa, London-trained barrister Mohandas Gandhi (Kingsley) witnesses racial oppression and segregation first-hand. Spurned on by the incident, Gandhi returns to his native India and becomes heavily involved in the pro-independence movement against the colonial British. Gandhi becomes, not only a symbol of hope to all the people of India, but the country's most vocal, prominent and revered independence campaigner. His periods of personal fasting saw the country through difficult times, while his non-violent methods were respected across the world.

It's unusual for a biopic of this scale and length to present a study of its central figure that is both intricate and strangely vague. Gandhi is a film of many strengths; particularly the stunning central performance of Ben Kingsley. However, its approach, which at times seems overly mystical and reverent, doesn't always make for compelling viewing. As Gandhi, Kingsley delivers one of the iconic biographical performances in cinema history. It is said that many extras were so struck by the depth and accuracy of Kingsley's performance that they believed him to be the ghost of Gandhi himself. If that's not a complement, I don't know what is. The film presents Gandhi as two things; as a fascinating man, and as a symbol of the pride and controlled passion of the Indian people. Kingsley captures both these angles, making Gandhi seem very real, very human, while at the same time almost godlike.

In fact, Kingsley is so good, and the film focuses on Gandhi to such an extent, that it is guilty of somewhat neglecting the other individuals who were prominent in the independence movement. While both Roshan Seth as Nehru and Alyque Padamsee as Jinnah are both good, their scenes are limited and their characters are poorly explored. Bergen, playing American journalist Margaret Bourke-White also has little to work with, though her performance remains charming and memorable. Edward Fox is chilling as General Reginald Dyer, while Gielgud is as professional as ever playing Lord Irwin. But then there are a number of pointless characters, like Geraldine James's Meerabahen; a British woman who came to live in Gandhi's inner circle. The character doesn't give us a different angle on the man, while James's performance is flat. Characters like Meerabahen simply waste the film's time.

Some of these character issues tie in with what is perhaps the biggest problem the film has, and that is the relationship between Gandhi and the actual historical events the film depicts. Because it focuses so heavily on him, and studies his actions in such extraordinary detail, it oversimplifies the actual process he was involved in. After watching Gandhi, you can come away with the impression that Indian independence was won purely because this man went on regular fasts. The public admiration for Gandhi is only occasionally shown, while he seems relatively cut off from the outside world. The result is occasionally tedious pacing and sluggish movement. The intention is good - to present an entirely reverent account of Gandhi's life and deeds - but the actual execution seems to isolate him from events, and simplifies their complexity.

Cosmetically, the film is everything one can expect from a film that won eight Oscars. With lush cinematography (Ronnie Taylor and Billy Williams), a delightfully traditional musical score (Ravi Shankar), and set pieces on a massive scale, the film looks every inch a Best Picture winner. Attenborough has never been a showy director, and his restrained style suits the mannered and intelligent character of Gandhi well. He is as much to blame as anyone for the approach the film takes with its central character, but he definitely understands the vibrancy and beauty of India itself.

Gandhi tries to do for Mohandas Karamchand what Lawrence of Arabia did for Thomas Edward, except it doesn't quite pull it off. It's a good film, and I'd recommend to anyone who is even vaguely interested in the period, or who is just a cinema fan in general. But while it captures the man himself in fascinating detail, it often struggles to capture the circumstances in which he existed.

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