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OLD FRIENDS. Newpaperman Walker (Martin March to the Sea during a scene from “Gandhi,”Sheen) meets an old acquaintance named Mahat- Richard Attenborough’s epic biography based onma Gandhi (Ben Kingsley) on his historic Salt the life of India’s most powerful leader.tude of the part itself would earn respect for even an adequate portrayal of the man the people of India called “mahatma” (meaning “great soul”).Kingsley’s Gandhi is flawlessly credible, a sensitive and dynamic man with personal magnetism enough to captivate the minds and emotions of 350 million people. From the moment we first see Kingsley as the young attorney (being thrown off a train because he refused to sit in third-class cars with other Indians), he performs with what can best be described as an “inner light,” an ethereal glow that seems to emanate from the soul.“Gandhi” is a movie of telling detail and haunting faces. Each and every visage communicates a chapter of dialogue about the character and his/her reaction to the situation at hand. The smallest of Attenborough’s characters seem full-fleshed and wThole, although we may see them only for scant seconds on screen.Whether it’s the threatening British prison guard screaming, “Gandhi! I want Gandhi!” (a role that lasts about six seconds) or the assassin pumping bullets into the mahatma with an eerie expression of calm, the unforgettable faces tell the little stories that hoist the main one into greatness.The most powerful of these comes from a Hindu man whose family had been killed by rioting Muslims during the brief Hindu-Muslim civil war. He approaches Gandhi, who has become weak and feeble from fasting as a penance for the deeds of his people. The bereaved Hindu, his eyes ablaze with fright and anger, tells the mahatma that he must go to hell because he smashed a Muslim child’s head against a wall in retaliation for his family’s murder.the mahatma speaks in a broken voice. With the seeming wisdom of Solomon, Gandhi outlines a simple but profound way for the Hindu to regain grace in the eyes of God.Attenborough wisely avoids deifying the mahatma. His movie celebrates the humanity of the Indian leader with dignity, passion and skill through Billy Williams’ and Ronnie Taylor’s finely etched cinematography and an outstanding supporting cast.Among those: Martin Sheen’sAmerican journalist, John Gielgud’s arrogant viceroy of India, Rohini Hattangady’s persevering wife of the mahatma, Ian Charleson’s thoughtful missionary, Trevor Howard’s sympathetic judge and Edward Fox’s frightening General Dyer, a British commander who dispassionately orders the shooting of Indian women and children during a public gathering.In the middle of all this artistic splendor and directorial genius, there’s Candice Bergen, the greatest non-actress working in motion pictures today. Pitted against an actor of equal stature on the screen, say Charles Grodin, her makeshift characterizations might be passable.But Attenborough has perpetrated a cruel trick on Bergen by placing her in the same frame with a searing talent like Kingsley. His brightly polished performance illuminates every crack, crevice and blemish in Bergen’s stilted, depthless portrait of Life magazine photographer Margaret Bourke-White.WITH THE wealth of feminine talent to choose from, Attenborough apparently went for beauty. What we get is beastly.But this distraction is minimal. Attenborough’s biggest achievement in creating “Gandhi” isn’t only the fulfillment of a 20-year commitment to a work of art; it ties the planet a little closer together.For a while after we leave the theater, we feel that we, too, have the ability to make a difference in our world if we only apply our wills.It’s a grand feeling.“I KNOW THE WAY out of hell,”by Dann GireHer aid film critic“GANDHI” — Cast: Ben Kingsley, Rohini Hattangady, Ian Charleson, Candice Bergen, Edward Fox, John Gielgud, Martin Sheen, Trevor Howard. Written by John Briley. Produced and directed by Richard Attenborough. A Columbia Pictures release. Rated PG. ★★★★“Gandhi” is exactly what a great motion picture should be. It’s uplifting, inspiring, enthralling, provocative, educational and entertaining.With a running time of nearly 3*6 hours (including a 15-minute intermission), most movies with the smallest of pretensions might easily become taxing or sluggish. Not a second of “Gandhi” is wasted or ignored. As I've written before, this is the most’ invigorating and well executed epic biography movie since “Lawrence of Arabia.”The 20 years that director/producer Richard Attenborough spent preparing and working on this mammoth project have been well rewarded. Attenborough’s sweeping epic never loses sight of the small intimate story at its core, Mohandas Gandhi’s rise to political influence and worldwide fame through his unique vision of mankind and his philosophy of non-violence.Attenborough acknowledges in the opening credits that his film cannot possibly relate all of the essential events in the life of the English-educated Indian attorney who led his people on a hard-fought campaign of peace for independence from British rule. In the end, as history tells, the British eventually did exactly what Gandhi told them they would: simply walk out of the country.MUCH HAS ALREADY been written and said about the electrifying actor chosen for the title role. This performance by Ben Kingsley, a half-Indian actor trained at the Royal Shakespeare Company, is the sort of stuff justifiably buried with criticalsuperlatives. The awesome magni-
Newspaper Details
Arlington Heights Daily Herald Suburban Chicago
Arlington Heights, Illinois, US
Fri, Jan 21, 1983
Page 35
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