Gandhi (1982)
It is interesting how most of these long epics deal with peoples desire for freedom. The Ten Commandments, Ben Hur, Lawrence of Arabia, El Cid, Spartacus and so on. Gandhi shares that theme but with a very different feel to it. There are no big epic battles or big redemption like scenes were the “bad guys gets what they deserve” so to speak. Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence forces the colonial oppressive world view into the open for everyone to see. The movie managed to pull me in with the charisma and idealistic philosophy depiction a very admirable freedom movement.
I don’t think movies needs to be history lessons, but one should probably be aware that this is just one version of Gandhi - the almost saint-like view of him. It might not capture the complexity of him or the history, but it can be seen as a lense of him as this mythic figure. Even though the movie is named just Gandhi and he is the center of the entire movie, I don’t think it is really a personal portrait of the man. We don’t get deep into his thoughts or under his skin. It is really more a depiction of the movement created around them and how it is used to force reflection upon colonialism.
There are plenty of absolutely amazing speeches and impactful scenes. I was horrified to learn that the Jallianwala Bagh massacre actually happened. Ben Kingsley is delivering a wonderful performance and there was no minute across the entire 3 hour runtime that felt unnecessary.
Rating: 4.5