n comes to tell him that the riots have stopped. As he recovers he makes plans to go to Pakistan with a message of friendship. One of his followers observes to Bourke-White, “He offered the world a way out of madness.” He walks into the garden and is shot by an extremist. They pour his ashes on the river. This is a beautifully crafted film by Richard Attenborough.
The collapse of British Empire in India is a living metaphor of a turning point for Civilization, precipitated by World War II. The essence of Gandhi’s genius (and Kingsley’s) was in shaping his image to suit the function of identity-maker. The release of ancient urges for vengeance between Hindus and Muslims is a harbinger of things to come. In early 2002, India and Pakistan raised the threat of nuclear war. This film swept the Academy Awards, displacing E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial among others. Kingsley won Best Actor.
In India we learned of misgivings about Gandhi and about this film. Attenborough was apparently granted financial support from the Indian government for making his film, contingent on his avoidance of controversial issues relating to Gandhi’s life. These include his treatment of his wife and children, his sometimes contradictory views on political matters, and his relationships with female followers in his later years. Not everyone in India, then or now, is grateful for Gandhi’s accommodation to the Muslim population of the country, but Gandhi remains an indisputable icon for the coming worldwide movement toward self-governance. This movie, even with its deflection of attention to personal flaws, serves as an essential chapter in the annals of humanity’s long march to universal equality. The same process would later be observed in treatments of the life and work of Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela. This is the drama of our times.
The Making of the Mahatma (1996)
While it lacks the epic sweep of the Attenborough film, this treatment of the early career of Mohandas Gandhi is interesting for its attention to the formation of his philosophy. It begins with the young barrister’s 1893 departure from his wife and children in Bombay to travel to South Africa where he will represent a wealthy client in an inconsequential lawsuit. As he travels by train to his destination, he encounters racial prejudice directed at Indian indentured workers who are treated as inferiors by the British colonials. At first he wants to demand the dignity of his British education but soon enough he begins to identify with the downtrodden. He is a Hindu by birth and inclination but he is sympathetic to the prosperous Muslims among whom he practices his trade. They value his skills and gradually he becomes a leader of the resistance to British oppression. His wife and children join him in Durban, British Colony of Natal. He becomes fastened on the issue of racial discrimination on the part of the British. They feel they have enough difficulty with the native population and cannot tolerate an infusion of Asiatics.
Gandhi endures beatings and imprisonment in his pursuit of justice but his conviction is strengthened. A friend gives him a volume of Ruskin and his ideas are crystallized. While he is in jail his wife falls ill and it seems she might die. His son is infuriated when Gandhi comes home and advocates austerities. The son leaves home. Gandhi has become deeply committed to non-violent resistance to repressive policies, and his following is growing steadily. His wife recovers and he later informs her that he will embrace celibacy to overcome his desire. She says that overcoming his desire will be like capturing an ocean in a teacup. He leads a very large group of people on a protest march that looks like a harbinger of the Salt March. He is repeatedly arrested. The movement is getting worldwide attention and the government is under pressure. Gandhi shaves his head and adopts native dress (this has the strange effect of making the actor look much less like the real Gandhi). He meets with the governor and learns that the majority of his demands have been met. He walks by t