He is sure where the right lies in every situation, and hewill uphold it in total disregard for the possible consequences to himself.īefore long Gandhi is in India, a nation ofhundreds of millions, ruled by a relative handful of British. But Gandhi's response sets the tone of the film. Gandhi's reaction to the system is, at first, almostnaive an early scene on a train doesn't quite work only because we can'tbelieve the adult Gandhi would still be so ill-informed about the racial codeof South Africa. He already had a law degree, but, degree or not, he was a targetof South Africa's system of racial segregation, in which Indians (even thoughthey are Caucasian, and thus should "qualify") are denied fullcitizenship and manhood. Gandhi moved there from India in 1893, when he wastwenty-three. The movie begins in the early years of thecentury, in South Africa. Apart from all its other qualities,what makes this movie special is that it was obviously made by people whobelieved in it. Kingsley's performance ispowerful without being loud or histrionic he is almost always quiet,observant, and soft-spoken on the screen, and yet his performance comes acrosswith such might that we realize, afterward, that the sheer moral force ofGandhi must have been behind the words. Various actors were considered over theyears for the all-important title role, but the actor who was finally chosen, Ben Kingsley, makes the role so completely his own that there is a genuinefeeling that the spirit of Gandhi is on the screen. The movie is a labor of love by Sir RichardAttenborough, who struggled for years to get financing for his huge but"non-commercial" project. The movie earns comparison with two classic works by DavidLean, “ Lawrence of Arabia” and “ Doctor Zhivago”, in its ability to paint astrong human story on a very large canvas. This is the sort of rare epic film that spansthe decades, that uses the proverbial cast of thousands, and yet follows ahuman thread from beginning to end: “Gandhi” is no more overwhelmed by thescope of its production than was Gandhi overwhelmed by all the glory of theBritish Empire.
Atthat moment we believe that he is fully and truly human, and at that moment, aturning point in the film, Gandhi declares that it is not only a historicalrecord but a breathing, living document.
Thepoint, I think, comes in the quiet smile with which Gandhi says the words. But that is not really the point of the scene. Gandhiand his wife had not been in love, had not been old enough for love, and yetlove had grown between them. At the end of the ceremony, Gandhi says, "We werethirteen at the time." He shrugs. They do it with solemnity, quietwarmth, and perhaps just a touch of shyness they are simultaneouslydemonstrating an aspect of Indian culture and touching on something verypersonal to them both. Together, for the benefit of a visitor from theWest, they reenact their marriage vows. MahatmaGandhi, at the height of his power and his fame, stands by the side of a lakewith his wife of many years. In the middle of this epic film there is a quiet, small scenethat helps explain why “Gandhi” is such a remarkable experience.
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