Classic film covering the life of Gandhi (Gandhi (DVD))

Member Name: julwhite

Product:	Gandhi (DVD)
Date:	20/01/08 (35 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: An in-depth film, dealing with many issues with great skill

Disadvantages: Possibly doesn't focus on parts of Gandhi's private life

Gandhi is one of those films that I've been meaning to watch for a long time, a film labelled as a classic, so I decided to rent the DVD and see what I was missing.

The film is directed by Richard Attenborough and starred Ben Kingsley in the role of Gandhi. The film starts by showing Gandhi's death, which is where the film also ends, and that sobering scene was never far from my mind throughout the entire film. After this is the scene of a rather almost arrogant Gandhi demanding that he has a right as a solicitor to sit where he wants on a South African train, before then getting thrown off.

That scene alone portrays a man who never intended to spend a life involved in political leadership, just that he found himself being drawn more and more to the unfairness that ran through South Africa, where he was for many years, and then in India. His education as a solicitor gave him the respect and influence that he needed to become a natural leader, but this film does not just show his good or his bad side, but tries to form a picture of who made the man.

Ben Kingsley in his role looked like Gandhi and played his role with style and genuineness, it being no surprise that he won an Oscar for his role. Although even this alone did not mark out the quality of the film, as it actually won eight oscars and a series of nominations.

Of course the film also covers the political implications of the change from British Empire rule in India to that of home-rule. The film does this with equal skill, and one of the most interested set of scenes was that problems faced by Gandhi with the subject of partition of India and Pakistan. Gandhi didn't favour such a partition, he wanted one country at peace with itself, but he found such a desire and the political implications a very difficult issue to obtain. The film shows his inner feelings at having to make a decision on what would become such an important and long-lasting issue.

I personally do not generally favour long films, I find them very often dragged out and sometimes they show almost rather a vain attitude from the director in not wanting to cut parts of their film out. However, despite being over three hours long, I didn't resent one minute of that. The story that Richard Attenborough wanted to tell was as broad as it was long, and he did that with style, covering a great deal of ground throughout Gandhi's life.

Sometimes with films about individuals, you wonder whether a later film might be made covering the terrority from another angle or providing another view-point. I can't imagine any film-maker however wanting to try and replicate the life of Gandhi, as this film appears to have covered with fairness and completeness the life of its subject.

If I had to find a fault with the work at all, it would be that although Gandhi's family was covered in the film, given the level of controversy about some parts of his personal life, there was very little mentioned of this. Such a direction may have proved challenging, but is the only part of the man's life which I felt may have been skimmed over a little in the film.

The version of the DVD I had did not contain extras, but there is also a two volume DVD set, which is currently available for a very reasonable price on Amazon. This contains a making of Gandhi, special feature with Ben Kingsley, trailers and also some original news footage from the time.

Sometimes people will say that a film is a classic, but on watching, I find it a disappointment, but in this case, I personally would say that this is a film classic.

Summary: Works on all levels, as a history of India, a history of partition and a history of a great leader