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Ben Kingsley, Candice Bergen, Edward Fox

Biographical epic on the life of Mohandas K Gandhi, a proponent of peaceful revolution who led his country's fight for independence and was subsequently assassinated.

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91% liked it

39,887 ratings

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85% liked it

39 critics

PG, 3 hrs. 8 min.

Directed by: Richard Attenborough

Release Date: December 6, 1982

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DVD Release Date: August 28, 2001

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Flixster Reviews (2,279)

  • webalina
    July 6, 2009
    webalina
    I guess technically you could say that this is a good movie, but I've spent more entertaining hours watching my dog play with a bug. Bored the snot out of me.
  • hobster1
    May 19, 2009
    hobster1
    Reverent drama of the lawyer who became the leader of the nonviolent resistance movement against British colonial rule in India. Ben Kingsley gives a flawless performance in the role of a lifetime. Technically stunning, exhaustively detailed biography about one of the 20th cent...( read more)ury's most important figures is indeed impressive. However, one cannot get over the fact that this sprawling, lengthy epic feels more like a history lesson than entertainment. An unknown Daniel Day-Lewis appears briefly as a South African street tough who harasses Gandhi.
  • smith44
    November 9, 2008
    smith44
    As always Old Fashioned Hollywood Superb portrait of India's great political and spiritual leader comes to life in Ben Kingsley's authoritative yet sensitive performance. Director Richard Attenborough's epic-scale production re-creates Gandhi's life and times, especially his use ...( read more)of non-violence and hunger strikes to bring together the diverse peoples of India and unify them as a nation. The funeral sequence was filmed on January 31, 1981, 33 years to the day after Gandhi's real funeral. Approximately 300,000 extras were used in that scene, the most for any filmepic Winner of my Top Biopic Films.
  • PvtCaboose91
    August 25, 2008
    PvtCaboose91
    "They may torture my body, break my bones, even kill me, then they will have my dead body. NOT MY OBEDIENCE!"


    For decades, Richard Attenborough's sweeping epic biographical film Gandhi has been incessantly subjected to critical acclaim and abject disparaging.

    ...( read more)The film won no less than 8 Oscars in 1983, including the holy three (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor) in addition to Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing and several others. On top of these exalted awards, Attenborough's biopic collected five BAFTAs (including the holy trinity of Best Film, Director and Actor) and five Golden Globes. Even after acquiring these, Gandhi garnered countless other prestigious awards. With this impressively long list of credentials, it's inevitable that critics and audiences would search for reasons to hate it. Granted, there is some to criticise. However this largely depends on what you expect.

    Richard Attenborough developed the film over the course of about 20 years and was so enamoured by the man that he wanted the film to be a relentless tribute that focuses less on his weaker facets. In accepting the award for Best Picture, director Attenborough remarked that it was neither the film nor the creative team being honoured by the Academy that evening, but Mohandas K. "Mahatma" Gandhi himself. The little man with a loincloth and a walking stick made a profound impact on his home country. So profound, in fact, that the film holds the record for most amount of extras ever used in a single scene. For the scene depicting Gandhi's funeral, roughly 300,000 extras were used to fill the frame. Approximately two thirds of these extras were volunteers working for no money. They were in attendance for the filming to help Attenborough honour a man who materialised as a prominent representative of India. Attenborough's Gandhi is epic in scope and scale, and these extras further solidify Gandhi's popularity and influence. His thousands (perhaps millions) of followers were prepared to go to the end of the Earth in supporting Gandhi's cause. The people of India would ultimately acknowledge Gandhi with the title of "Mahatma" (meaning great soul) because of his revolutionary method of non-violent civil disobedience, which he initially employed as a young attorney in South Africa to challenge British laws that unjustly made Indians second-class citizens.

    Gandhi is an epic creation that chronicles the life and death of Mohandas K. Gandhi: a remarkable man who refused to turn a blind eye to discrimination, yet firmly stood against violence in his methods. The man refused to resort to violence even after the tragic Amritsar massacre during which thousands of Indian men, women and young children were shot mercilessly in cold blood.

    "An eye for an eye only makes the whole world blind"


    Altogether the film covers roughly 50 years of history, from Gandhi as a young Indian lawyer to an elderly man eventually assassinated by a Hindu extremist. The opening sequence depicts Gandhi's death by an assassin's bullet before telling the story through flashback. Initially we follow Gandhi as a young attorney in 1893, when the unlawful injustice and prejudice is brought to his attention when he is thrown from a train after refusing to move from the first-class seat that he booked. This young Indian man staged a revolution, breaking down the prejudice against him and his coloured followers. His successes proved an inspiration for the entire world: Gandhi was a towering little man, and a motivating figure. Amid the most tumultuous, horror-filled years of war and bloodshed in history, he taught the world an alternative, non-violent method of combating oppression.

    The film's beginning is prefaced with a disclaimer:
    "No man's life can be encompassed in one telling. There is no way to give each year its allotted weight, to include each event, each person who helped to shape a lifetime. What can be done is to be faithful in spirit to the record and try to find one's way to the heart of the man"


    The film truly pushes the envelope with its running time of about 3 hours. Attenborough chooses to focus on the man and the way his spirit shaped world history - not just the UK, but world history. The film is a tribute and a portrait of the man, showing his origins to his full-scale protests. We see Gandhi being imprisoned several times while his faithful supporters continued protests in his honour. We also watch in awe as Gandhi fasts...he refuses to eat until his wishes are accomplished. Attenborough imbues his film with the true spirit of Gandhi.

    Ben Kingsley has been endlessly lauded and acclaimed for his unforgettable portrayal as Mahatma Gandhi. Although most audiences only know the historical Gandhi from history books and stories, Kingsley's masterful performance personifies everything we visualise about the man himself. He prepared for his role comprehensively by scrutinising newsreel footage of Gandhi, reading books on (and by) the subject, dieting, losing weight, practicing Yoga, and learning to spin thread. As a result this thorough research is very palpable. He masters the nature of the real man: humble and contrite. Better yet, Kingsley looks the part to stunning effect. His transformation from young man to frail old man is subtle yet effective. You will genuinely believe you're watching real footage of the man. Apparently Indian people believed Kingsley's performance was a reincarnation.
    Kingsley is surrounded by a capable supporting cast. Many well-known actors appear throughout the film's duration. Martin Sheen appears as a reporter, and an extremely youthful Daniel Day-Lewis plays a boy who confronts Charlie in the street. There are countless other cast members that evince acting brilliance.

    The amazing locations are captured with mind-blowing cinematography. Gandhi borrows techniques from celebrated epics such as Lawrence of Arabia. This exquisite photography was crucial as the entire film is essentially dialogue. The intriguing visuals are marvellous to behold. The pacing is deliberately slow and unhurried as there is much ground to cover.
    However, there are criticisms to be pointed out. The politics that fuel the proceedings are confusing. Additional explication is sorely needed in this area. In tradition with most epics, the storytelling is at its best. In spite of this, the second half is marginally less riveting than the first. The running time is occasionally very irritating, but at the same time it's impossible to remove a frame. It's also worth noting that the film frequently canonises Gandhi's philosophies rather than exploring them. His preaching is therefore trivialised and occasionally distorted.

    Despite its shortcomings and countless haters, Gandhi is an important film about a great man. In short, this is a film everyone must see at least once. It's an absorbing history lesson as well as deep food for the soul: it gives us inspiration and hope while illustrating the capabilities of a single man. Attenborough tells an amazingly powerful story in this film, with incredible cinematography and an extraordinary period atmosphere that makes it a memorable epic deserving to stand beside Lawrence of Arabia. Gandhi is simply unforgettable and remarkable...watch it without hesitation.
  • AgentLexi2132
    June 23, 2008
    AgentLexi2132
    ''Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.''
    -Mahatma Gandhi-

    Biography of Mahatma Gandhi, the lawyer who became the famed leader of the Indian revolts against the British through his philosophy of non-violent protest.

    ...( read more)Ben Kingsley: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

    Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi,
    is simply one of the greatest men of the 20th Century. Still awe-inspiring and loved by thousands upon thousands of adoring people, both Indian and Non-Indian. His message of Non-violence, of Peaceful Protesting continues to live on after his tragic demise and inspire famous leaders. Gandhi's life work was not an easy journey, the greatest biographic movie, in all it's extravagant poise, vision and detail, ever made Gandhi tells it so magnificently.

    Right from the off, we the audience see Gandhi battling the controlling British Government in South Africa, taking the Indian immigrants to their freedom despite being thrown in prison and horribly beaten. After his great victory over the South African Government, Gandhi returns home to free his nation from the oppressive British. He continues his message of peace and non-violence, persuading thousands of Indians to ignore the British.

    Like in Africa, he is thrown in captivity and his fellow Indians are shot in a truly graphic scene where a an Army General shows no emotion and no remorse in his cold cruel act of examples made by murder. Even after India is freed from Britain, Gandhi continues his fight, hoping to achieve peace between Muslims and Hindus which sadly resulted in his assassination that claimed his life. Yet his message continues to inspire and burn brightly.

    Ben Kingsley is truly amazing as Gandhi Mahatma. You must see it with your own eyes to believe. He is Gandhi. People actually mistook Kingsley for Gandhi himself. It's an accomplishment of a lifetime for Kingsley to depict him so well.
    The rest of the cast are also exceptional. Martin Sheen and Candice Bergen are terrific as reporters helping to share with the world of Gandhi's vision, exploits and burning resolve. His priest friend also good indeed, trying to spread Gandhi's word to the people of South Africa who, in a sad scene, walk out on him during the homily.

    The British are well depicted accurately shown as the tyrannical masters of India. Like I said previously, the scenes where the British kill rioters, who are peacefully protesting are hard to watch but to show this is a necessary evil.

    His assassination scene is truly powerful in its simplicity as Gandhi is ruthlessly killed in public, in cold blood.

    Gandhi is truly one of the most important, Biopic, Epic films ever. It proves that violence is not necessary...just as Gandhi told us throughout his life. Who's life was like a burning candle glowing only for the slimmest of times but in that time burning brighter than any other like a beacon in the darkness, a prophet of truth.
  • catbox9
    November 23, 2009
    catbox9
    The 1982 film Gandhi is a biographical film about the life of Gandhi. The film begins with his assassination and then goes back to an even in South Africa. Most of the film deals with Gandhi's attempt to bring independence to India.

    Overall, this film reminded me of The Last Emp...( read more)eror which was another multiple Academy Award winning biopic. Like that film, I didn't particularly care for this film as I generally do not care for biographical films (Lawrence of Arabia being a notable exception). While I did not care for this film, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences did, awarding this film eight Oscars including best picture, best actor (Ben Kingsley), and best director. I suppose Kingsley's Oscar was well-deserved giving how demanding his role was and the artistic Oscars are also worthy given the artistic nature of this film. The academy tends to award films like this the best picture Oscar so I'm not sure I can even complain about that.

    68/100
    D+
  • Yelverton
    November 20, 2009
    Yelverton
    Really LONG movie about the life of one of India's heroes.
  • totalefreiheit
    November 18, 2009
    totalefreiheit
    Buena. Para verla solo una vez. El mejor papel de Ben Kingsley... y a partir de alli se fue en picada...
  • djabonillojr2008
    October 18, 2009
    djabonillojr2008
    a very inspiring epic film. sir ben kingsley gives an astonishing performance as gandhi and the whole movie is marvelous.
  • jam233
    October 8, 2009
    jam233
    Ben Kingsley is absolutely amazing in the title role. He goes above and beyond in his portrayal. He is brilliant, and it is his performance that helps carry the film through some of the slower stretches. The films main flaw is the unnecessary length. Richard Attenborough does an ...( read more)exceptional job directing. Very detailed, amazingly well produced.

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Critic Reviews

October 23, 2004
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

A remarkable experience. full review

View more Gandhi reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments

  • lpatrick13
    June 12, 2008
    lpatrick13
    Well what can i said it was a pleasure to meet Ben Kingsley during is vacations last year for is birthday in Playa del carmen México.

    He is a very kind man a very nice human been. I like all the movies he has performed and is a great actor .

  • vinaykumarsahu
    June 27, 2007
    vinaykumarsahu
    It is the movie of its kind. i have seen it many time,it keep on inspiring me. By seeing it one can say that movies also have impact on mind,this movie can change your way of thinking.
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Gandhi Trivia

  • Who directed the film Gandhi?  Answer »
  • Names the actor who appeared in Apocalypse Now, Gandhi, and Catch me if you can  Answer »
  • In "Gandhi" (1982), who is the leading actor playing the character Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi "Bapu"?  Answer »
  • What movie starring Ben Kingsley is this quote from? "Whenever I despair, I remember that the way of truth and love has always won. There may be tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they may seem invincible, but in the end, they always fail. Think of it: always."  Answer »
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