Gandhi (1982) Columbia Pictures 📢 Director: Richard Attenborough 💰 Producer: Richard Attenborough 👫 Cast: Ben Kingsley, Candice Bergen, Edward Fox, John Gielgud, Trevor Howard, John Mills, Martin Sheen. 🏆 Awards ceremony: -55th Academy Awards: April 11, 1983. Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles, California. 🎭 Other films nominated for Best Picture this year: -E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. -Missing. -Tootsie. -The Verdict. 📕 Plot summary: The re-telling of the life events of Mohandas Gandhi who suffers as a victim of racism and class status but manages to become a national hero to his people when he takes on the South African government with non-violent campaigns against their regime. Despite seemingly being targeted by the British army in India, Gandhi united Hindus and Muslims together and stands stubbornly firm in his fight for independence as we see the formation of Pakistan and the rise of India. Or something like that... it's all a bit too confusing for me! 💥 Standout scene(s): The Amritsar massacre. Brutally unnecessary and outrageous. 🔑 Facts: -The 55th Academy Awards. -Nominated for 11 Academy Awards, it won 8: Best Picture, Director, Actor (Ben Kingsley), Screenplay (original), Art Direction, Cinematography, Editing, Costume Design. -Second Best Picture appearance in succession for John Gielgud (Chariots Of Fire). -The first of three Best Picture appearances for Bernard Fox (Titanic, The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King). 🙂 Personal opinion: Ben Kingsley's performance as the titular character is pretty amazing considering he usually plays a loud-mouthed Cockney in some of his films. And it does make me wonder if they re-made this film now whether a fuss would be made over a white actor playing a brown character in the film? Praise is also to be given to the direction from Richard Attenborough with so many screen-filled crowd scenes and all those hundreds (possibly thousands?) of extras scattered throughout the movie. It is one of those films that serves a purpose in educating audiences in the real-life person that Gandhi was and for that reason the film deserves its place in cinematic history. That said, if it is entertainment you are looking for then forget it because although it is well-filmed without falling into the utterly boring category it is also one of those things you only want to ever see once. It's not a Saturday evening with your bag of popcorn type of movie. If you want to know everything about Gandhi and are too lazy to pick up a book and read it, then watch the film and fill ya boots. In considering my rating out of ten for this (I take this seriously) I weighed up the historical importance of the film against the entertainment and 'watch value' of it and concluded that it should be balanced out with an average rating of 5/10. I think this was fair but the whole 191 minutes did seem a bit tough to chew. Did it deserve the Oscar? ❓QUESTIONABLE. 5/10

Review date: 04 April 2025