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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 4, 1983)
Movie receives 11 Oscar nominations Gandhi — not the typical hero by Gary Barker Battalion staff In a word, Gandhi is a mov ing film. But just as a word is grossly inadequate to sum up Sir Richard Attenborough's highly acclaimed epic, a three-hour movie is hardly sufficient to tell the story of a man as influential and inspirational as Mohandas K. Gandhi. As the curtain closed, and the audience shuffled out, many seemed to be asking themselves: "Who is Gandhi and why ha ven't I heard more about him?" The movie seems to whet a his torical appetite among an audi ence whose view of history is skewed toward so-called Amer ican "heroes." But for most persons, Gandhi should provide a short course in the history they missed. The film covers the major events in the life of India's controversial Mahatma, or great spul, as his followers called him. But while Gandhi is educa tional, it is not painful as learn ing sometimes can be. It is enter taining, always gripping — al ways thought-provoking — throughout its entire three hours and seven minutes. And although it is not as crea tive or interpretative as some historical films, Gandhi's life didn't need much creativity — his story largely speaks for itself. The movie begins where Gan dhi's career began — in South Africa, where he became a suc cessful lawyer, worked to end discrimination against Indians and instigated civil disobedi ence. Returning to India as a hero, he began a long struggle to fight British rule and the animosity between India's Hindus and Muslims. The movie covers an impressive 56 years of Gandhi's 79-year life, until his assassina tion in 1948. The major theme throughout the film is violence — small- scale and large-scale — and Gandhi's reaction to it. In the midst of bitter anger, he con tinued to preach non-violent activism and went on hunger strikes several times to protest his violent countrymen. Gandhi's story is told in the movie on more of a societal level rather than a personal level; the two main characters in the movie are Gandhi and India's Movie Review masses. Perhaps that is the only way to tell his story, since Gan dhi often is called the "father" of a country of nearly 700 million. To portray the populace, Attenborough gathered a giant cast of extras — some paid, most volunteers — estimated to num ber 1 million; about 300,000 were on hand just for the filming of Gandhi's funeral procession. Attenborough excellently used these extras to portray mass emotion. Playing opposite this giant mass is Ben Kingsley, the In dian-born, veteran British stage actor who plays Gandhi. From his deep, caring eyes, to his soft walk, to his slight half-naked body, Kingsley carries the dra ma where the script sometimes left off. Although many of the sup porting cast were given higher billing than Kingsley, most of their roles are slight. Candice Bergen, as Life maga zine photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White, is in no way be lievable as an interviewer. She acts as if she is taking pictures for her family album; it is likely that Bourke-White approached her subject with much more se riousness. Sir John Gielgud, as Viceroy to India Lord Irwin, is his usual wonderful pompous self. Mar- tin Sheen also is up to his stan dards as Walker, a Western jour nalist who reported Gandhi's methods to the West. Indian actress Rohini Hattan- gady, as Gandhi's wife, is perhaps the best of the support ing cast. Several of the other supporting players — including Ian Charleson, Geraldine James and Roshan Seth as former In dian prime minister Pandit Nehru — are equally superb, but their roles are not well- developed. One problem with the movie is that screenwriter John Briley and Director Attenborough (A Bridge Too Far and Magic) focus on the well-known events in Gandhi's life rather than prob ing his past for some of the les ser known, but equally impor tant, events. In some cases the movie sani tizes Gandhi's life by ignoring some of his quirks, including his dictatorial nature and his diffi cult struggle to remain celibate. Perhaps by neglecting these, Attenborough hoped to show the audience what they should remember Gandhi by — and in deed we should. But by includ ing Gandhi's imperfections, he would have made Gandhi seem more human and his triumph of spirit even more impressive. But even with its flaws and lack of aeativity, Gandhi is a lavishly filmed, forceful movie. To many, the idea of a three- hour movie about passive resist Ben Kingsley plays Mohandas K. Gandhi ance may seem unappealing. In deed, at times Gandhi's means are terribly uncomfortable to an audience accustomed to the tra ditional American movie hero who fights back — the old 'eye for an eye' attitude. But Gandhi's logic is undeni able. "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind," he said. We can only hope that those who see it will suspend their usual American chauvinism and pragmatism just long enough for the timeless logic to set in. 14k_ijettm> (jo(d band designed and fianderafted by our goldsmiths. iamond Room 3731 E 29th - 846-4708 Bryan 707 Shopping Village - ' 693-7444 College Station