Peter Brook's The Mahabharata
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Amba Bihler, Erika Alexander, Lou Bihler, Maurice Bénichou, Urs BihlerDVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 318 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-11-26
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Image Entertainment
Movie Reviews of Peter Brook's The Mahabharata
Movie Review: From a non-Indian, non-religious viewpoint, a masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
I do not wish to comment on any of the DVD-related technicalities, because I view this entire epic on a 1989 videotape dubbed from PBS. I am happy to find the DVD release available, but I have not yet seen it on DVD. I watch this film about once or twice a year.
I am not an admirer of Eastern mysticism, nor of religion in general, but hearing a different kind of myth/saga to the Bible has always been important to me, since I had the Southern Baptist viewpoint pounded into me as a youth. I do not have to agree or completely understand myth/sagas but I DO have to find them entertaining before I would take the time to bother with them.
As to the interpretation of the text, I have seen some of the Chopras version and can understand why viewers of an Indian heritage would prefer it; it contains most of the characteristics that annoy some Western viewers with all that is Bollywood, yet is obviously beloved of many Indians: odd production values, scenes that appear to copy illustrations that sometimes have nothing to do with the text (such as Krishna loaded for bear as he prepares to drive Arjuna's war chariot). A non-stop soundtrack that even I, a lover of World Music, find (and this is the most charitable word I can think of) annoying. It also contains no Asian, African or European actors, being a 94-part Indian TV production.
However, Brooks' effort is a film of a stage production, it is not intended to explore Great Religious Themes but to provide a forum for his ideas about theatre while allowing a tiny sampling of the stories in this great book to be told, which he is at pains to explain in his interviews.
Some of his cast sound as if they have been taught their lines phonetically, and yet, the sheer physical presence they are afforded because of the camera work somehow makes them fascinating structural elements, a case in point being Bhishma, played by Kouyate. His English was almost unintelligible (he is clearly African) and it is undoubtedly offensive to some Indian viewers to see black actors in such roles. Too bad. I do not have to worry about what others may find offensive, I am here to be entertained, and the the fact that Bhishma IS a structural element, and that Brooks seems to understand that not all characters in such tales are fully developed human beings, gives this presentation a quality that makes me want to keep watching, while Chopras becomes a chore. There are many European (non-English) actors in this whose lines are garbled and rushed, and yet each one seems perfect for the role he or she is intended to convey.
Over the five hours, (and years of rewatching) my bewilderment with the cast became fascination. Lloyd and Myers (as Veasa and Ganesh/Krishna)and Mezzogiorno(Arjuna)are standouts, and perhaps the DVD will reveal what I cannot see on my old tape: isn't Krishna always presented as blue-tinted?
Brooks' completely skipping the Bhaghavad Gita in no way harms this presentation, how could such a thing be filmed? and who would want to sit through that?
The camera work and scenic design live in the perilous middle ground of all filmed stage productions, but the choreographed movements of the cast within the spaces provided overcome my usual objections to such enterprises. By choreographed I do not mean a conscious attempt to bring attention to the movement, but I mean the absolute confidence of the actors to work within a confined space, and this film needs to be seen again and again if one is to understand that the appearance of being completely natural in something as contrived as a soundstage is the essence of the theatrical experience. Brooks is allowing himself the luxury afforded by filming to provide a rich set scheme. He could have easily placed all action on a limited stage and used the technical wonders as seen in such productions as RSC's Nicholas Nickleby but he takes another road here and gets the best of both worlds. The viewer never loses the sense of stage production but Brooks refuses to let the scenes be boxed in by it. I consider this a masterpiece mainly because I continue to watch it over the years, and like any piece of art will do, it seems to allow me to learn something about how to approach such a monumental task with the tools at hand. Unlike Mahler or Picasso, Brooks is not creating something from nothing, he has source material of such astounding scope that even the attempt is admirable, but I think the results here are equally astounding. How many films with ambitious themes (take much of the Herzog ouevre as an example) become a task more like taking medicine or sitting through a lecture in a foreign language? Brooks' film never palls.
The music, and especially the voice of Sarmila Roy, continues with me for several days after any viewing, and Brooks' limited use of music is refreshing since most "period pieces" (especially from Bollywood) are marred by wall-to-wall cacaphony.
P.S. since this was posted, I have obtained the DVD. It is vastly superior to my aging VHS tape, but I retain the tape because the PBS Great Performances presentation included superb interview material from Brooks that unfortunately does not appear in the Special Features on the DVD.
Summary of Peter Brook's The Mahabharata
One of the great masterpieces of world literature comes to vivid life in an elaborate production from acclaimed theater and film innovator Peter Brook (Marat/Sade, Lord of the Flies). This collection of ancient Sanskrit stories (composed into the longest book ever written) comprises a series of enlightened fables at the heart of countless beliefs, legends, and teachings; indeed, its very title means "the great story of mankind." Brook and award-winning writer Jean-Claude Carriere worked for eight years to develop this epic concerning two sides of a royal family, the Pandavas and the Kauravas, whose struggle leads to a fascinating voyage of emotions, contradictions, and dreams, filled with subplots which are alternately comic and tragic but always gloriously entertaining.Famed Royal Shakespeare Company director Peter Brook helms this multinational production of India's greatest epic myth. A seemingly simple tale of two sets of semidivine brothers vying for the throne spirals out to include wider themes of fate, free will, and the problems of behaving dishonorably to preserve the greater good. The film, adapted from Brook's stage production, uses a presentational style, with the epic's narrator slipping in and out of the action and characters stopping to address the camera. The international cast and simple costuming add to the timeless, dreamlike feel of the story. The Mahabharata does an excellent job of reverently presenting a cherished myth without losing the passion and excitement of the story. The DVD edition includes "The Making of The Mahabharata," an interesting look at both the layers of meaning to be found in the story and the challenges in adapting it for a Western audience. --Ali Davis
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