BEST PICTURE SHOWCASE: "Gandhi" (1982)

Gandhi. I admit it. I was dreading this one.

I tried to watch this back in the late 1980's, but my teenage self just couldn't get into it. It bored me.

Now, I'm older, wiser (supposedly) and a genuine lover of film. Plus, let's face it, Gandhi won Best Picture! So in all likelihood, it's really good, right? I already know that Ben Kingsley's portrayal of the man is still revered to this day, so there's that too!

Perhaps. All I knew going in was, it was over 3 hours long. There are very few films I've ever seen that reach the 150-minute mark before I start fidgeting in my seat. 180 minutes? By then I'm practically whimpering.

I planned on doing this one last week but what was about our 37th snow event this winter killed that plan. Today, I was determined to finally get this done. I have a blog to execute, dammit, and execute it I shall!

So without further adieu...1982's Best Picture winner, Gandhi.

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The film opens certainly in unique fashion, with the above quote. It's not a quote from Mohandas Gandhi, but rather from the producers, as if to immediately quell any potential complaints that may have arisen about how the story was incomplete or whatever. This is followed by a graphic giving the date of 1948 in New Delhi. Gandhi, who is elderly, walks to meet admirers. One seeming admirer approaches him and bows, but upon rising shoots him point-blank and assassinates him.

Movie over.

No, just kidding. But the above really was how the film opened. It was followed by Gandhi's funeral, with a massive outpouring of mourners lining the streets, and dignitaries from around the world joining in.

From that point, we go back in time to 1893. A young Gandhi is in the first-class area of a South African train. He's approached by authorities and questioned about why he's there. He has a ticket, that's why. He's a lawyer and he travels first-class. The officer argues that there are no "colored" lawyers in South Africa. Gandhi says obviously there's at least one, because he's a lawyer and he's in South Africa. The argument proves futile as Gandhi is literally thrown off the train at the next stop. He meets with friends later, many of them Indian as well, and the others seem to just accept the prejudices and go about their business. Gandhi decides this needs to change, and he will make an effort to have those changes made.

Gandhi organizes a speech where he encourages Indians in the country to protest non-violently against the bias. His first act is encouraging everyone to burn their committee passes, and this causes British officers to rush the area and threaten arrest to anyone who does so. One man, Khan (Amrish Puri), burns the pass and is arrested. Gandhi proceeds to burn many other passes, but is beaten and bloodied by the officer for doing so. Undeterred, Gandhi continues to toss papers into the fire until he passes out.

Gandhi heals from his injuries and is met by an English minister and missionary, Charlie Andrews (Ian Charleson), who supports Gandhi's cause. Gandhi is next met by a New York Times reporter, Vince Walker (Martin Sheen), who is immediately impressed with Gandhi as he invites both Vince and his African-American driver to join him and his wife, Kasturba (Rohini Hattangadi), for dinner.

Laws are being implemented where Indians in South Africa will all be fingerprinted, and their homes can be taken at any time. A rally sees members of the crowd protest to this and offer to do so violently, but Gandhi insists that no violence can take place. A protest march some time later sees English officers charge the group, who all lie down on the ground. The officers stop their horses because it would be a very bad idea to trample a peacefully-protesting group of Indians, and the officers eventually retreat. Meanwhile, Charlie Andrews is seeing many people leave his sermons once he begins to announce his support for the Indian people. Finally, after numerous embarrassing incidents of violence against the Indians make headlines, South Africa agrees to loosen up on their treatment of them. Victorious, Gandhi decides to return home to India, and Charlie decides to go with him.

Once back in India, Gandhi is encouraged to rally his people for independence from British rule. He takes up the cause and soon sees the Indian government and many citizens agree with his cause and his methods of achieving them. The British officers, however, are not amused, and Gandhi finds himself arrested for causing public disturbances everywhere he goes due to the large crowds that come out to see him. Charlie visits Gandhi in jail and is surprised to hear Gandhi encourage him to take up the opportunity he has in Fiji, reasoning that this Indian crusade needs to be by the Indian people. Eventually, Gandhi is released from prison after a court hearing that includes a judge (Trevor Howard) angered to see the courthouse jammed with Gandhi supporters.

Harsh laws are set to be passed and Gandhi's followers want to react with violence, seeing that the only option. Gandhi instead proposes a day of "prayer and fasting" on April 6 when the laws are to take effect. This ripple effect winds up shutting down many services countrywide, and the British higher-ups are even more unamused now. Gandhi is arrested again for encouraging a governmental overthrow. He is released from prison only to learn of a horrible massacre by British officers of over 1,500 Indian protesters who were marching peacefully. The British general is grilled by members of his country's upper government, as even they seem to think this went too far. A meeting between Indian and British government, which included Gandhi in the proceedings, does not settle the issue.

A young British woman named Madeleine Slade (Geraldine James) moves to India to live and work with Gandhi. She is rechristened Mirabehn. A rally sees Gandhi asking his supporters to burn all the British-made garments they wear, and they eagerly do so, opting instead to make and wear their own clothing from Indian materials. British officers once again clash with peaceful marchers, and this time the Indians fight back, burning down a police house and beating several officers to death. Gandhi is horrified by this turn of events ("An eye for an eye ends up making the whole world blind.") and announces that he will fast until the violence ends.

After some time, the violence does end as neither British nor Indians want to see Gandhi kill himself because of their clashes. However, as Gandhi begins to recuperate post-fast, he is arrested yet again. This time, he meets with the same judge and is given a 6-year jail sentence, but the judge has gained respect for Gandhi's cause and says he hopes the British Royalty will suspend the sentence.

Years pass and Gandhi is released from prison. Reporter Vince Walker has now traveled to India with a photographer (Richard Griffiths), and they decide to join Gandhi and his party as they embark on a 240-mile walk over a period of several days, to arrive at sea on the anniversary of the massacre of over 1,500 Indian citizens and make salt for Indian commerce, as opposed to relying on British imported salt. The British decide it's best to ignore this entire stunt, but find that to be impossible when the result of his walk is salt being sold all over India and the Brits getting no further profits from it. Not to mention that when Gandhi completed the journey, he was joined by a massive throng of supporters.

One day, British officers storm the streets and arrest many salt-peddlers, as well as beat many others. The British government cannot get India to react with violence, thereby proving their nonviolence credo moot, so they decide to arrest Gandhi again to try and get their dander up that way. It doesn't work. Another march occurs, this one in plain view of Walker and his photographer, and they see line after line of Indians being beaten and bloodied by British officers guarding the prison gate. Walker is horrified and calls in a frantic report to the New York Times with graphic details of what he witnessed. The public pressure from this report finally causes the British government to release Gandhi from prison and invite him to England to meet about India's independence.

The meeting does take place, and Gandhi returns home. Independence is not yet reached, but Gandhi feels it will be, perhaps after the end of what is now on the horizon, World War II. Gandhi and his family travel to make antiwar speeches, but they're all arrested for propaganda against the British government. While in prison, they are visited by a reporter from Life magazine (Candice Bergen) who is driven to the prison by an American officer played by John Ratzenberger. His character does not ultimately mean anything to moving the story along, but I wanted to include the mention of him because for some odd reason, his voice (which in 1982 was unfamiliar to most but nowadays is unmistakable) is dubbed over. I researched heavily and could find no concrete evidence as to why his voice was dubbed over (by Martin Sheen, no less), but it was. Maybe too Bostonian?

While in prison, Gandhi's wife becomes ill and dies due to complications from a massive heart attack. Gandhi mourns her and is released upon the end of World War II. India is granted its independence. However, there are new problems that arise as a result of this. People of the Hindu religion and people of the Muslim religion are segregated to different parts of the country, with the Hindus given India and the Muslims given an area now to be known as Pakistan. Gandhi is against this, but the Act is carried out. This does not please many, and an event at the border of the two countries in 1947 sees a major clash of the two religions as people are moving to their new and designated places. Civil wars are also erupting in other cities such as Calcutta. Gandhi is angered and upset by this, and announces he will again fast until the violence stops.

Now in his 70s, this fasting takes a toll on Gandhi. Friends of his and longtime supporters gradually alert him to improvements among the people, but he refuses to end his hunger strike until he is completely convinced the violence not only stops, but won't ever start up again. Finally, Hindus visit Gandhi and lay their swords down at the foot of his bed. Gandhi ends his hunger strike. In the days that follow, he gains strength enough to journey outside once again, aided by his grand-nieces. Upon this walk, he is assassinated in the manner we saw at the beginning of the film. The movie ends with a voiceover speech by Gandhi as he see his cremated ashes poured into the sacred Ganges River.

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I half-joke about the length of the film, but the reality is Gandhi took a VERY long time to even get made. Director Sir Richard Attenborough spent almost two decades researching it, with a break in the 1970's since many he was collaborating with passed away. Finally, in 1980 shooting began on the picture, with some scenes utilizing over 300,000 extras, a number verified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most ever for any film.

Critics loved the film, and especially Ben Kingsley's performance. While not a box-office bonanza, it performed well with moviegoers as well. Gandhi scored a whopping 11 Academy Award nominations and won 8 of them: Cinematography, Costume Design, Editing, Art Direction, Original Screenplay, Actor (Kingsley), Director (Attenborough) and, of course, Best Picture. The other top prize contenders in what was a strong year were E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Missing, Tootsie and The Verdict.

My take? I can see why in the late 1980's at the age I was, it was a hard film to get through. Nowadays, I most certainly found it interesting. Kingsley's Oscar was undeniable, and the cinematography and staging and direction of the movie were all thrilling, brilliant achievements. Gandhi was the kind of film that won Oscars, and lots of them, in the 1980's. Huge, sweeping epics. We'll see more of them in later blogs as they come up for this decade. Also, Oscar has always had a thing for biopics as well, so this movie had lots going for it at the time. Personally, looking at the other Best Picture nominees for 1982, I'd rewatch Tootsie and E.T. again at any time. I'm not sure I can say the same for Gandhi. It's not a movie I feel I would have the need or the desire to see a second time. Nonetheless, Gandhi was an absolute filmmaking triumph that the Academy could not, and did not, ignore.