Gandhi Above Average Story, Not Really A Biography

Rating: 10/10 (8 March 2009)

Much has been said about the historical inaccuracies of Richard Attenborough's Gandhi. However, many of the "inaccuracies" other viewers point to are merely personal idiosyncrasies of the man, not manipulated historical events. Should those idiosyncrasies have been included in a film about the one man who most influenced India's independence? Probably not. The film focuses on his motivations for and his contributions to India's struggle for independence, not really his own life. It took decades of his life to accomplish independence, so a three hour film to tell the story does not seem too long to me. From his days as a young lawyer thrown off a train to his rise as a nationalist leader of a India, Gandhi tells the story about how one man changed the world.
Ben Kinsley in his first lead role is astonishing as Gandhi in appearance and speech and won a deserved Oscar. Ravi Shankar wrote the musical score, which was also nominated for an Oscar. The cinematography, costumes, and sets are first rate. The logistics of negotiating the crowd scenes must have been challenging to say the least compared to the new age of computer graphics. The film moves quickly, and it's compelling enough viewing to not seem like three hours. Attenborough, who won the Director Oscar, tried to make the film for some twenty years, but he was unable to secure financing until he started directing films himself more than a decade before Gandhi's release. One thing missing in the film is character development. Characters throughout the film enter and exit off the screen without much contribution to the story. None of the major actors mentioned in the credits has screen time of even a half hour. It's all Ben Kingsley as Gandhi. The film won eight of the eleven Oscars it was nominated for including best picture. Daniel Day-Lewis has a brief appearance as a young street tough who accosts Gandhi. **** of 4 stars.