Transcending Art

Rating: 10/10 (7 February 2006)

The film Gandhi was something which I watched with my parents for the first time when I was about six or seven. Obviously I had really no comprehension of the greatness of the man but I was aware of the name. I saw it once again at a much suitable age when I was about thirteen or fourteen and now fully encompassed with the knowledge of Gandhi from reading his biographies and going to his ashram in India. What I saw that day was something beyond anything I had experienced till that point. This was not a film I saw that day but something that I cannot describe in words. It was as if Richard Attenborough had gone back in time with a film camera and just shot the real Gandhi. Of course the credit for that completely goes to the brilliance of Ben Kingsley. Kingsley's performance is the greatest performance ever to be caught on film. I was not watching Kingsley but essentially I was viewing Gandhi. It was just shattering and jaw dropping what I had seen. Other than the acting, every other aspect of the film-making was just perfect. The great Ravi Shankar composed a score of breathtaking beauty and in complete harmony with the visual images of the great direction of Richard Attenborough. A perfect example of this is at the end of Gandhi with the ashes of Gandhi being spread across through the Ganges with Shankars score. I was just in awe and to this day I think it is the single greatest sequence in the history of film. I cannot sing enough praises for this film. If one wants to be enlightened and engross themselves into the life of a great man, Gandhi is the definitive film. Absolutely superb.