l of the production of salt is an analog of their control of the country. Gandhi says “they are not in control; we are.” Thousands of people line the way of his walk. He claims the salt of the Indian Ocean for the Indian people. Gielgud sends a force to stop the salt-making. They arrest many but to no avail; then they arrest Gandhi. There is a confrontation at a British saltworks where soldiers beat the non-violent protestors.
Gielgud calls Gandhi from prison to invite him to England for a conference on the possible independence of India. Gandhi is a celebrity in London. He returns to India with no commitment from the British. He says, “They are clinging to old dreams.” World War II has begun and Gandhi is once again arrested and detained in a pleasant mansion. Margaret Bourke-White (Candice Bergen) comes to photograph him. Both Mr. and Mrs. Gandhi articulate their mature philosophies to Bergen. Mrs. Gandhi dies of a heart attack in detention with her husband at her side. The war ends and the British send a Viceroy to begin talks on the practicalities of independence. The Muslim minority fears it will be dominated by the Hindus; they want to partition a Muslim state to be called Pakistan. Gandhi tries to make a bridge but fails. There will be two independent states, and civil war will be averted.
The British flag comes down. Gandhi returns to his spinning wheel. On the India-Pakistan border in 1947, a conflict erupts between displaced Hindus and Muslims. The violent unrest spreads throughout the country. Gandhi is profoundly discouraged. He goes to Calcutta where there is chaos in the streets. There is chanting of “death to Muslims.” The climate of religious hatred worsens. Gandhi begins another fast until the people come to their senses. Prime Minister Nehru comes to tell Gandhi that things are getting better, but more deadly rioting breaks out. Great efforts are made to persuade Gandhi that the hatreds will be resolved. Nehru makes a speech saying “Gandhi-Ji is dying because of our madness.” One day a delegation 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 philos