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¥ASAlt;:tipil!wmmii|I|:.wi‘.'iv:■MM■MMOlO'Awmm.iMMRmmnei*i#ii«av'iVi' • I'lWy.ww/i «•!•«■ ^ .'.‘iw.*.1 .*■iipiillllliilSSiSliSIlmmmmmmMBHHImmmIS!mmmmmmIlilllilll•Xs*IvI vv !•»— i'-:! *'SStil^5?iiivoilltgllIllllll!wmmmmmwmmmill*mw\*.vActor Ben Kingsley portrays the Indian leader Mohandas K. Gandhi as both a philsopher and a pragmatist in filmA MAN SUCH as Mohandas K. Gandhi is not the ideal subject for a screen biography. For although great events surrounded him, Gandhi was not the perpetrator of battles or conquests; He was a politician, a philosopher and a teacher.weaknesses in the cast, the pictureperforms beautifully.GANDHIDirected by Richard Attenborough; screenplay by John Brile'yfhtstorjcal supervision by Alan'Martin; cinematography bv‘ Silly Williams and Ronnie Tavlpr; production design by Stuart Cr^ig; edited by. John Bloom; music by Ravi Shankar, additional music by George Fenton; produced by Rtchdrd Attenborough, An Astral film release, At the Grant Park cinema. Mature!. ... V •Mahatma Gandhi ............. Ben KingsleyMargaret Bourke-White ....... Candice BergenGeneral Dyer ......... Edward FoxLord IrwltV. ,..(.... John GielgudJudge Bloomfield Trevor HowardThe Viceroy John MillsWalker ..!.................Martin SheenKasturba Gandhi Rohfnl. HatfangadyCharlie Andrews .................;. Ian CharlesonGeneral Smuts..'.;.................... Athol FugardHerman Kallenbach ... Gunter Marla HaimerSardar Patel ..... Saeed JaffreyPandit Nehru................Rostian Seth* * •ii ■. Iceman, the $10 million Norman Jewison production,, will begin filming in Vancouver, on Feb, 21. As reported earlier, the movie has targeted two weeks of filming in Churchill and the easting of several Inuit for the picture.Timothy Hutton stars in the ethnographic sciehee-fiction tale which also.features such Canadian actors as Richard Monette, Amelia Hall and Philip Akin in principal roles.And the announcement that the rattier inexperienced director Richard Attenborough wquld bring his life to the movies, hardly suggested justice would be served.However, reservations disappear on viewing Gandhi, an intimate portrait and epic tale. Attenborough may lack flourish, but he commands the action with an assured hand and draws a superb performance from Ben Kingsley, as Gandhi, which sweeps away the small lapses evident in the story.The portrait spans 55 years ofGandhi’s life beginning with his arrival in South Africa as a young lawyer in 1893. Brought to that country by an Indian merchant, the London-trained Gandhi found himself confronted by racial discrimination. Arriving by train with a first-class ticket, he was asked to vacate his compartment andMoviesLeonardKladyWhen Gandhi arrives in India in .1915, the film demonstrates both his humility (when faced with a hero’s welcome) and the crowds' enthusi-. asm at greeting the first man to “win a victory against the British Empire ih 200 years:” His exploits in. South Africa soon make him a candidate to lead the country to independence. : However, Gandhi feels very - much like an alien in his native land. He has shed the garb of a British gentleman and adopted the clothes of his humblest countrymen. Thanks to the financial support of a benefactor, Gandhi . spends a year travelling about India discovering the plight of its population and established an “ashram” or co-dperative. . ■ *Attenborough frames the story in the traditional mould of historical epics established by, David Lean in such films as Lawrence of Arabia.If Lean brings a gusto to his ' project, Attenborough offers commitment and devotion, producing equally valid and entertaining results.Kingsley's Gandhi is vivid and embraces both the intellectual and physical aspects of the man.Technically, Gandhi is a major achievement and apart from a fewwhen he refused, was promptly ejected from the train.By law Indians in South Africa had to carry identification papers and Gandhi balked at this inequality. He reasoned that as a British subject he was entitled to the same treatment as white South Africans and began a campaign of non-violent resistance, resulting in the law’s, abolition,Kingsley captures the seeming inconsistency of Gandhi’s rejection of violence and his iron-clad determination. He speaks as both a philosopher and a pragmatist;Down to earthiAttenborough brings his obvious bias to the material; For him no more saintly man existed, but Kingsley brings Gandhi down tQ earth without reducing his accomplishments. It is an enthralling performance.
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