(from http://passionforcinema.com) I realize that I am monstrously behind on the times... this movie came out when I was one year old... but I finally watched Gandhi over the weekend. I won't be silly and write a lengthy review since there must be thousands of reviews already in existence... but I did enjoy it, so, here goes!
I don't know enough about Gandhi's life to know whether or not this movie accurately portrays the life of this incredible figure of our world's history. However, even the filmmakers provide a very tidy disclaimer at the start of the movie... Something along the lines of the impossibility of capturing a whole lifetime of someone so influential. The same disclaimer said that this was merely an attempt to capture the spirit of the man we know as Mahatma Gandhi.
I could tell that the writers were very careful to include significant, recognizable quotes in the dialogue. You get to hear Ben Kingsley's heartfelt delivery of great sayings such as "When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall — think of it, always," "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind," or "There are many causes that I am prepared to die for but no causes that I am prepared to kill for." I deeply appreciate details like this, particularly in my ignorance of his writings and the history. It makes it easier for me to identify with the emotions I have about what Gandhi might have been like.
Once I got over the fact that they painted Ben Kingsley various shades of brown for this film, I couldn't think of any other person to play the part. He deserved that Oscar, in my not-so-humble opinion. While the true Gandhi in my head has that strange, wide, sweet smile stretched across his thin face, Kingsley created another infectious smile in the midst of the audience getting dragged through emotionally intense moments. There was still a sense of calm, comfort, and wisdom in his expressions. I have liked this actor's performance in Twelfth Night (as my favorite Shakespearean character, Feste) as well as the Catepillar in Alice in Wonderland (I'm behind on his work, too). I really don't have all the words to say how moved I was by his performance... and it's great to be deeply moved once in a while.
The story itself is also so striking. I am pretty in love with this concept of civil disobedience... of Gandhi's stance on a non-violent lack of cooperation as a way for improving the lives of a country. The refusal to settle for the British rule, for the racism towards the natives of India, for the lack of humanity on the rulers of a foreign land... but doing all this not in the name of Gd, not with swords or bombs, but with a blunt, "No." In one great scene, while Gandhi was fighting for his kind in South Africa, the workers marched towards a group of aggressors on horseback with sticks, ready to bludgeon the workers to death. One man cried out that they should all lay down on the ground, that the horses would not trample on them. How terrifying... that you can count on a sense of humanity from an animal before a thinking homo sapien.
His struggle with teaching others non-violence is so impressive to me. These are hard concepts to ask of the masses to understand, accept, AND implement. It's one thing to preach in a crowd... people nod, say, "Amen," thank the teacher for sharing his wisdom... and then they go back to their insensitive, intolerant, petty ways once they go home. The fact that he convinced such large groups of people to allow for the violence of the British forces and to not fight back... I mean, with most men on this continent, you might as well tell them not to breathe as to fight by not fighting.
Of course, there's also Gandhi's willingness to fast in the face of his people's wrongdoing (just like a good, suffering Libra would do). The times when people took his words and twisted them to do evil, to perform violence against each other, Gandhi took it upon himself, as though he had done what the terrorists had himself, to enforce some self-punishment. Perhaps he knew he was popular enough by this point that people would want to go to any lengths to keep him alive... in another great scene, one of Gandhi's followers comes to see him during a particularly dramatic fast. Gandhi wants the Hindus and the Muslims to get along... no easy feat. When he sees this particular follower, he tells him that he's getting fat and should join him in the fast. The man laughs and tells him that if he were to follow Gandhi's example, he would die. No one is going to do crazy, new things to save him from death. In the end, however, it's not the fasting that killed Gandhi...
...rather, as most people know, he was assasinated. I guess it was a smart choice to begin and end the movie with the same scene. For those who do not know Gandhi, you learn why this person goes out of his way to murder a frail old man. For those who do, the emotions well up all the more quickly right at the start of this 3 hour epic.
Still, now I see what my professor was talking about... while I was undergoing my yoga teacher training, my Indian philosophy teacher remarked on this film. Overall, he liked it, but he feels that the filmmakers mishandled Gandhi's death. In the end, all you hear is "Oh Gd," over a black screen. According to the professor, upon his death, Gandhi said something in his native language that translates into something like, "Thank you, my Beloved." This was meant to indicate his relationship with death or with the Divine. He had no fear about encountering death, though most of us would have a passionate reaction to the way in which he was removed from the world. In a way, he was expressing gratitude to moving closer to Gd.
I really can only say so much. I have some reading to do. I should have read his works ages ago. He's an interesting person who states things that I have certainly thought about, but have been unable to relay these thoughts with such simplicity. Things like, "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are nothing like your Christ," or "Yes. I am [Hindu]. I am also Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, and Jewish." His idea of walking the walk... and doing so together, with all of us... one of the most recent Christ figures of our time. I never knew him... but in this moment, I miss him. Our world was better off with him in it.
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