I recently watched this 1982 multiple Academy Award winner again, after an interval of more than twenty years. I have to say that it’s aged exceptionally well. In fact, I think that Gandhi may be the best movie I’ve ever seen.
The story follows Gandhi’s life from the time he was a lawyer in South Africa to his death in 1948. Richard Attenborough apparently set out to create a masterpiece, and it’s hard to find even a minor aspect where he might have failed in that endeavor, as is evidenced by the eight Academy Awards the movie won. The cinematography is stunning, the costumes and locales authentic, the subject matter of the utmost importance. Ben Kingsley plays the title role amid a cast of absolutely first-rate actors, and it’s positively eerie how close he gets to the real-life Gandhi.
Although the film is three hours long, as it says in the beginning, there is no way to tell the whole story of Gandhi in a movie. What it does is give a representative sample of the major events in his life, and in the life of India during his time. Gandhi’s goal was nothing less than sovereign independence for his nation — a goal that he ultimately succeeded in achieving through the use of non-violent resistance to Britain’s paternalistic authority. It was a stunning, unprecedented success, and one that put the final nail in the coffin for European colonialism.
Five stars. Everyone should see this movie.
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