"An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind"

Rating: 7/10 (21 May 2010)

I was engrossed yesterday to watch such a colorful big movie, that has in itself some of the majors constituents of what can make an epic movie larger-than-life, yet It was about a historical iconic person that made things easier for Richard Attenborough to succeed conveying the humanistic and charismatic features that Gandhi was Known by.
The film has 8 Oscars in its awards cabinet, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Ben Kingsley), Best Editor, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Screenplay (John Briley) and Best costume design, all of these awards emphatically confirm the importance and the highly praised regards that this movie brought once it was released, I can stand as an advocate for the Oscar committee for this One, it was certainly taken as a biopic educational medium that spans the life story of one of the most important man in history : the Hindu Mohandas K Gandhi.
Richard Attenborough was certainly a profound admirer of Gandhi's personality; we can feel his joy and excitement in depicting the instances where Gandhi faced the merciless British authorities in what he painstakingly elaborated an fluid eloquence of speech between the British and Him, the unofficial Indian leader. Richard Made it clear at the beginning of the movie.
Gandhi faced racial discrimination in a ''British'' train in south Africa, where He was asked to get out of the train even though he has a First class ticket, nonetheless Gandhi hasn't at all plunged into despair and instinctive violent revolt but went to contact and communicate the issue to his fellow people that are facing the same people and stood head to head against the British Authorities to raise the problematic question that occurred at that period which is ''The illicit imperialistic impact made upon the laws and commonwealth of the colonized countries" . Gandhi came back to his country, where he engraved his name as an unofficial leader of the masses of people of different ethnicities. In the court scene, in the presence of some British officers, Gandhi spoke to his fellows Hindus and Muslims about how they are not considered citizens of the empire, everyone enraged at the idea of letting the British harm them, let them embody the pain that they inflict, and by then they'll see that there is something wrong, something that won't suit neither their interest nor ours the Indians'.
Gandhi's philosophy of nonviolence disobedience is for sure and certain one of the maverick philosophies of nonviolent resistance, it seems somewhat naive and irrational but it conquered the British Empire. I've been taken much by the personality, but this film wouldn't stand on its feet if there wasn't the magnificent and poignant performance by Ben Kingsley (half Indian), he overshadowed all the others actors, he embodied Gandhi who is a leading role not that easy as it seems, but he nails it, he didn't fall into the cliché/traps of heroic nonsense speeches, on the contrary he was charismatic, and reflecting a Tranquil Force.
Towards the end of the movie, Gandhi succeeded to give independence to India through his nonviolence philosophy, nonetheless it didn't prevent India from facing a bitter civil war between the Muslim party and Hindu party, about which the aging Gandhi said '' I am a Muslim and a Hindu and a Christian and a Jew and so are all of you.'', Even though Gandhi was the principal cause for India's independence, the evilness inherited in people's souls made them forget all his great deeds, whereupon an angry dissident assassinates the 78-years-old with a bullet, a mere bullet!! Notwithstanding the length of the movie which is a 3hours 14minutes, the pace of the movie is excellent, I much enjoyed the blank black scene image, wherein only Indian mystical music could be heard (I went to the kitchen to bring me something to eat, and listened to it while enjoying my food Ha:D).
Gandhi was killed, a person who sought ''nonviolence'' was faced by an extreme inexplicable ''VIOLENCE'', Whereas this film certainly paid tribute to one of the important icons in history, it's a documentary about Gandhi's philosophy of the resistance through nonviolence and humanistic approach that will spread nothing but peace and love.