GANDHI

At their 1983 ceremony, the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Science bestowed eight Oscar awards to the motion picture Gandhi, including the award for Best Picture. This biography movie follows the life of Mahatma Gandhi as he transitions from lawyer to political leader to spiritual luminary, working to liberate India from British rule. This journey spans from 1893 through his assassination in 1948.

This film transports you so eloquently to different regions of the Middle East and to an era when the native Indian people were forced into second-class citizenship and servitude by the ruling British government. The cinematography is sublime, showing off the lavish opulence of the British residences and offices as opposed to the squalor and simplicity of the towns and residences of the native people.

Ben Kingsley plays the title character superbly with charm, calm, and an ever-spectacular glint of higher wisdom. Filmed before the availability of CGI, the make-up team does an outstanding job of aging Kingsley from mid-twenties through late seventies. Kingsley carries this film completely on his capable shoulders, being supported here and there by Martin Sheen, Trevor Howard, Sir John Gielgud, Candice Bergen, Ian Charleson, and most intimately by Rohini Hattangadi as his dutiful and loving wife, Kasturba.

This film runs the emotional gamut, constantly tugging to ensure your viewing experience is a fully satisfied one. It’s a big tale that never gets lost or sidetracked, and the editing is perfect. In fact, the movie has the honor of being in the Guinness Book of Records for the most extras used in a film… there were roughly 300,000 of them used in a funeral scene! This is a fantastic movie and one I will most definitely want to view again.