ahimsa satyagraha

It’s been a while since the movie critic in DS was in a self-imposed hiatus. Napansin nga ng isang friend ko the other day na wala na akong nire-review na film. Wala kasi akong drive manood ng films lately. Nauuta na ako sa mga slambang flicks whose only selling point is it’s CGI. Sabi ko nga kay Jonas, I need something worth reviewing na wala naman akong makita lately. Until last Saturday night.

Dubai One showed Richard Attenborough’s 1982 classic, Gandhi. And since it’s a classic, wala talaga silang nilagay na kahit isang commercial gap. Cool. Kaya lang almost 3 hours run sya kaya pag ganito, tumatakbo na naman ako para lang maka-weewee. But I was glad na tinutukan ko yong movie dahil mortal sin pala talaga kung hindi ko pa ito napanood now that it’s on free tv.

It deserved all the awards (8 from Oscars including Best Picture, Director and Actor, 5 from BAFTA and 6 from Golden Globe) and both Richard Attenborough and Ben Kingsley deserved to be knighted mainly because of this.

It’s one grand, epic film na hindi nag-depend sa CGI (hindi pa naman kasi ito masyadong uso noong early 80s). Grand scenes were mounted and shot entirely through the artistry of the creative team. It is mind boggling to think that the multitude of crowds was not fake – they were real bit players, extras na umabot daw sa 400,000 during the funeral scene according to Wikipedia Impressed na ako dati sa dami ng extra sa Ben Hur at Cleopatra pero dito mas marami pa. Grabe siguro ang gastos sa bayad pa lang sa kanila.

Sir Richard did a wonderful job of managing such a huge project. His brilliant execution of scenes was evident from the quiet but very touching scene of Gandhi’s wife Ba (Kasturba) dying hanggang doon sa mga eksena ng violent clashes between thousands of Hindus and Muslims. I also liked the scene when Gandhi was assassinated where the screen went black immediately after the gunshot and Gandhi simply said “Oh God”. It’s so powerful only a brilliant director can concoct such scene.

Magaling din ang screenplay which was interesting – something na mahirap gawin lalo kung biopic where you have to remain loyal to the original story and at the same time kailangang masustain mo yong interest ng mga manonood (according to Wiki again, the film was ‘generally accurate’).

I also love the cinematography coz it captured the beauty of India’s countryside. Ang galing din ng shots doon sa cortege which was the opening scene of the film. First 60 seconds pa lang ng pelikula alam mo agad what to expect.

And of course there was Ben Kingsley who was the heart of it all. He fit the role to a T not only because of his physical similarity with the original Gandhi. But his genius breathed Gandhi and brought him into life on the big screen. Ang galing ng gradual transformation niya from a sharp young lawyer in South Africa to an activist in India and finally a stooping old man in his walking stick but a very powerful spiritual and political icon.

But because the film focused on Gandhi’s politics and not his personal life, may ilang tanong akong hindi nasagot by the movie itself. Ano ang relasyon nya sa clergy (Rev Andrews) who was present during the earlier part of the film? Bakit may linyang ‘you will always be in my heart’ si Gandhi when he told him (Andrews) to leave India and pursue his clergy works somewhere else (was it Fiji?). And Andrews reacted na parang maiiyak? Is the movie implying that Gandhi had an intimate relationship with this man?

Pinakita lang yong mga anak nyang lalaki but after that wala nang nakita kung anong nangyari sa kanila. And, somewhere in the middle of the film, bigla na lang lumitaw si Mirabehn, a British lady who converted to Hinduism, stayed on in Gandhi’s background na akala ko’y isa lang sa mga hawi girls nya until one scene towards the end na bigla akong napa “ahhh… second wife pala sya ni Gandhi”.

And there’s these two young girls na naging alalay na rin ni Gandhi nong matanda na sya at kuba na. With his first wife, Mirabehn and the young girls surrounding him, the movie seems to subtly imply that Gandhi’s powers span a wide range – from politics to virility.
Nevertheless, the movie was aimed to tell the story of Gandhi’s greatness kaya understood ko na hindi na masyadong binigyan ng pansin ang personal nyang buhay. Besides, with the running time of almost (or was it more than) 3 hours, baka umabot pa ng 5 hours kung sinama pa yong kwento ng pamilya nya.

And it was a delight to see a younger Charlie Sheen (as a reporter), Candice Bergen (as Margaret Bourke-White, a famous writer for Life Magazine) and a dashing Daniel Day-Lewis na mala-extra din ang participation in this movie a decade before he won his own Oscar Best Actor trophy.

As it is, it was one movie that so totally deserves its awards. And I do agree that it ranks as one of the top classic movies of all times. At masaya akong pinanood ko sya. Walang problema kahit past 12 na ako naghugas ng aking pinag-kainan! Hahaha!