Gandhi (Widescreen Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Ben Kingsley, Candice Bergen, Edward Fox, John Gielgud, Trevor HowardBrand: Sony
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled); Korean (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Portuguese (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Collector's Edition, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 2.35:1
Running Time: 191 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-02-20
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Movie Reviews of Gandhi (Widescreen Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
Movie Review: The Might of the Wanderer's Staff
Summary: 5 Stars
The most triumphant moment in modern Indian history is encapsulated by the commentary of American journalist Vince Walker(Martin Sheen)-with whom the central figure of this film first became acquainted in 1890s South Africa- at the height of the summer of 1947.
..."Whatever moral ascendancy the West held was lost here today! India is FREE! For she has taken all that steel and cruelty can give, and she has neither cringed nor retreated...."
This was the moment for which Mohandas K. Gandhi--so aptly and unforgettably portrayed by Oscar winner Ben Kingsley with a subtle spark of divine fire--had campaigned for over three decades.
But Richard Attenborough's 1982 Oscar winner puts too fine a point on how little time India's Mahatma would have to enjoy it before meeting his tragic end at the hands of Hindu fanatic Nathuran Godse (Harsh Nayyar) in 1948 while en route to a prayer meeting accompanied by his nieces Manu and Abha(Supryia Pathak, Neena Gupta).
We view a solemn procession, ancient Hindu rites, and after a reverent summary of Gandhi's life by a Western radio commentator (Shane Rimmer), we travel further back in time, and to a different place.
In 1893 South Africa, we see a 24-year-old Indian-born, Western-educated attorney en route to deal with a case, traveling by train with a first class ticket. When a European passenger (Peter Cartwright) raises an objection to the Indian lawyer's riding First Class, Gandhi is thrown off the train despite protesting his right to be where he was. This is the official beginning of a lengthy struggle for human rights.
One of his early supporters in this endeavor is the Muslim Indian, Kahn (Amrish Puri). We witness the brutality of the British authorites for simple offenses, such as burning the passes nonwhites are forced to carry. He attracts the support of certain Westerners such as the amiable Reverend Charlie Andrews (Ian Charleson, who played athletic clegyman Eric Liddell in the previous year's Oscar Winner for Best Picture, "Chariots of Fire"), and Dr. Herman Kallenbach (Gunter-Maria Halmer). During one of Gandhi's early incarcerations, General Jan Christian Smuts (Athol Fugard) proves sympathetic to Gandhi's plight.
Watch for a cameo of future Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis as a South African street thug.
Gandhi changes his lifestyle drastically, and instead of living in an upper class structure with an Ayah (Charu Bala Choksi) for his three sons, he and his wife Kasturba (the beautiful Rohini Hattangady) take up a simpler existance at a communal Ashram with their supporters, hoping to illustrate the ability of those of all races and creeds to live together--experiences later chronicled in Gandhi's book "Ashram Observances in Action".
Returning to India in 1915, Gandhi meets those who will play the most crucial roles in the struggle for India's independence, including Jawaharal Nehru (Rashan Seth), Sardar Vahabhai Patel (Saheed Jeffrey), and representing India's Muslim minority, Mohammed Ali Jinnah (Alyage Padamsee). Professor Gohale(Shreeram Lagood) tells Gandhi that he believes India's future to be in good hands now that he has returned.
Gokhale's faith in Gandhi, of course, would be well-placed.
Encouraged by Gokhale to get to know his native land better after many years abroad, Gandhi and his supporters tour the country by train, leading to a few comical moments.
During another stint in jail, Gandhi tells Reverend Andrews that the best thing he could do to help is to accept assignment in Fiji, so that Indians will have the largest role in the fight for their own independence. But Andrews petitions British authorties at the highest level to help the effort as a final act of generosity.
Economic and social injustices by the British mount, but Gandhi's movement of passive resistance grows. In April, 1919 British cruelties reach their nadir as General Reginald Dyer (Edward Fox) orders Nepalese troops to fire on thousands of unarmed civilians in Amritsar's Jallianwalah Bagh.
Through it all, the self deprecating Gandhi endures repeated incarcerations and fasts, largely with sparkling-eyed-determination.There is a lovely moment when he reunites with Walker and he and Kasturba reenact their wedding ceremony.
Soon Gandhi is on the march again, in defiance of the British ban on Indians gathering salt from their own ocean. After six year's imprisonment, he returns to preaching nonviolent resistance of British rule. By this time a British Admiral's daughter, who is renamed Mirabehn (Geraldine James), has joined his household. Through her comes the revelation that British mill workers, who are ignored by their own government, which is too busy plundering other countries to address their needs, are among Gandhi's staunchest supporters.
We observe the efforts of Gandhi and colleagues to end fighting among various Indian factions. The British finally see the futility of abuse and incarceration, and soon enough are fighting to preserve their own independence from Nazi Germany, ultimately compelling them to extend to India what they wish to maintain for themselves.
Candance Bergen's Margaret Bourke-White captures the Mahatma on film and through his final days.
The 30s find Gandhi attending a conference in London about Indian independence. It is amusing to see John Gielgud's Lord Irwin, surrounded by the trappings of wealth, humbled by the man with a loincloth and walking staff while extending the invitation to attend the conference.
The 1940s find Gandhi enduring another incarceration, the loss of his beloved wife, and seeing his country win independence at last, but he is heartbroken that the long-standing dream that he and many Indians have had for centuries of a united India has been denied.
But as Mirabehn observed: When we most needed it, he offered the world a way out of madness."
Since my first viewing of this film, just after its 1983 Oscar Night victory, I've often pondered Gandhi's words about the eventual fall of all tyrants.
This film is a fitting tribute to the man who defeated History's mightiest Empire not with lethal weaponry, but by the might of a wanderer's staff. For a Hindu, he was a better practitioner of Judeo Christian values than many raised in those faiths.
At the close of my review, written to honor both 60 years of Indian independence, and the 25th anniversary of this film's release, I take note of the fact that the Biblical connotations of this man's life are indeed admirable!
Summary of Gandhi (Widescreen Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
A critical masterpiece, GANDHI is an intriguing story about activism, politics, religious tolerance and freedom. But at the center of it all is an extraor- dinary man who fought for a nonviolent, peaceful existence, and set an entire nation free. Winner of 8 Academy Awards® including Best Picture, Best Director (Lord Richard Attenborough) and Best Actor (Sir Ben Kingsley), GANDHI?s highly acclaimed cast also includes Candice Bergen, Edward Fox, Sir John Gielgud, Roshan Seth and Martin Sheen.The extras include more than 90 minutes of new material, including interviews with director Lord Richard Attenborough; actors Geraldine James, Saeed Jaffrey, and Edward Fox; Diana Hawkins (Director of Publicity), Terry Clegg (Executive in charge of production), Billy Williams (Cinematographer) and Stuart Craig (Production Designer). The DVD includes a Director?s commentary with Attenborough, who also filmed a personal introduction to the film. The featurettes include In Search of Gandhi, Reflections on Ben, Madeleine Slade: An Englishwoman Abroad, The Funeral, Shooting an Epic In India, Looking Back, Designing Gandhi (3 mini featurettes) and From the Director?s Chair (2 mini featurettes).