Gandhi – 1982 | 188 mins | Drama | Colour

Plot Synopsis

Director Richard Attenborough’s epic biography charting the life of Mahatma Gandhi from a simple lawyer to a worldwide symbol of peace and understanding, the film won an incredible eight Academy Awards.

The film takes us from his London studies to becoming a young lawyer in South Africa, as an Indian he becomes subject to apartheid laws which leads him into direct confrontation with the apartheid regime of South Africa. Later in his native India, Gandhi’s methods of civil disobedience and passive resistance are used to form a peaceful movement to liberate his country from British rule; “You have been guests’ in our home for long enough. Now we would like you to leave.” When India won independence after WWII, religious differences came to the fore without a common foe to fight, and the country was partitioned into Muslim Pakistan and Hindu India. A Hindu assassin later gunned down Gandhi himself.

The crowd and massacre scenes are hugely impressive, but at the core is screen debutante Ben Kingsley’s majestically understated performance. His best actor Oscar was one of eight the film garnered, including best director and best picture, Great cast includes Candice Bergen’s American admirer, Edward Fox’s brutal English colonel, Geraldine James as a disciple, and the stalwarts: Gielgud, Mills, Hordern and Howard.