This is going to be a very short review for a very long film. While recent biopics have focused on the most interesting parts of their subjects’ lives, Gandhi is devoted to painting a broad picture of the life and work of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. While there is no lack of drama and power, director Richard Attenborough’s approach results in a slow pace that will be a turn-off for many viewers. But if you are determined enough to tackle this lengthy, weighty film, you will find yourself awestruck.
The film opens with Gandhi’s assassination and funeral. We then flash back to 1893, where Gandhi experiences segregation and injustice for being ‘colored’ while working as a lawyer in South Africa. This motivates the young man to lead a non-violent movement for the rights of Indian people in the country. After several brutal incidents with the authorities, Gandhi’s movement gains international attention and his people are awarded their rights.
Several years later, Gandhi returns to his homeland, where he is welcomed as a national hero. He is successfully recruited into being one of the leaders for India’s struggle for independence from the British Empire. Much of the film covers this, the bulk of his life’s work, as he uses civil disobedience to highlight Britain’s oppression of the Indian people. Many of Gandhi’s struggles, triumphs and disappointments play out as India moves towards independence and faces conflict after attaining that goal.
Gandhi is an epic film. The scope, the locations, the subject matter- everything about this film is epic. It may not feature any dazzling camerawork or mind-blowing special effects but you will have a hard time topping the human drama on display here. Independence, freedom, justice and dignity are all goals and themes that resonate with us all. Seeing one man lead such a large-scale struggle for all of these things is astounding. Add to this the fact that everything in this film is based on real events and you cannot help but be overwhelmed by the audacity and fortitude of Gandhi.
Ben Kingsley’s performance is crucial to this film’s success. Many biopics falter in casting and hire actors and actresses who bear little to no resemblance to the real person being featured. Kingsley, hands down, looks just like Gandhi in this film. It certainly helps that Kingsley’s ancestry hails from the same region of India as Gandhi but it’s more than just that. Kingsley goes all out for the part, losing a dramatic amount of weight and perfectly affecting Gandhi’s voice and mannerisms. Beyond Kingsley, not much really matters in this film regarding the cast. It’s a film called Gandhi and they got Gandhi so right it’s chilling.
Richard Attenborough has stated that he never meant to become a director; he just wanted to direct this film. Considering it took Attenborough nearly 20 years to make his dream project a reality, the attention to detail in this film makes all the more sense. Sure, this results in a three-hour-plus historical drama that may bore those in the current ADHD Generation to tears at times, but cinephiles, history buffs and anyone who cares about humanity in general will consider Gandhi a triumph. It truly is an experience that words fall short of describing, so I won’t even try elaborating further.
Filled with paranoia, suspicion and fear, Ron Howard’s Oscar-winning film is a challenging watch. The audience is set behind the veil of the main character’s mental illness, leading viewers on a parallel search for truth. This makes for very delicate filmmaking, made even more so due to the film being based on a true story, but Howard and company are up to the task.
John Nash (Russell Crowe) begins his graduate studies at Princeton and meets a colorful array of people. His roommate is wild, his friends are entertaining and women intimidate him to no end. Nash sets out to come up with a truly original idea for his thesis, leading to his groundbreaking work in mathematical economics. After making waves with his work, Nash takes a teaching position at MIT, where he falls in love with one of his students (Jennifer Connelly). Nash is also recruited to a top-secret CIA project, where he is assigned to look for Soviet codes being printed in major media publications.
Nash grows paranoid that he is being watched and followed by the Soviets, concerning his wife. His world is shattered when he is diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and must work to figure out what in his life (past and present) is really real. Nash is given medication that puts a strain on his married life but when he stops taking the medication in a stubborn attempt to fight his illness on his own, he only makes matter worse. The film goes on to detail Nash’s struggle throughout his brilliant but troubled life.
I must confess that I knew the film’s twist reveal before I ever saw it. That being said, major kudos go out to both screenwriter Akiva Goldsman and director Ron Howard for the execution of the film after the twist reveal about halfway through. Despite knowing what Nash is imagining, there were times where I second-guessed what I thought was real and what was illusion. I don’t know that I’ve ever had that happen to me coming into a film that was ‘spoiled’ for me.
Russell Crowe is solid as John Nash and really nails the paranoia and mannerisms of someone suffering from this kind of mental illness. Jennifer Connelly definitely deserved the Oscar she won for her role as Nash’s wife Alicia. Her performance is as emotionally draining to watch as I’m sure it was to portray during filming. You feel bad for Nash and his struggles but you feel even worse for Alicia as her husband’s illness tears both her life and their marriage apart.
Ed Harris is perfect as CIA operative William Parcher. His cold, forceful and unforgiving manner creates a powerful antagonist. Paul Bettany is both hilarious and slightly creepy as Nash’s off-kilter roommate Charles Herman. Between these four characters, A Beautiful Mind has a foundation of rock-solid acting for the roles that matter most. The rest of the supporting cast performs adequately and everyone gets the job done (no small feat for a Hollywood film anymore).
One hang-up that could hurt audience appreciation is the pace of the second half of the film. The first half features Nash developing his whiz-bang theory and climaxes with his diagnosis. The second half drags on at times through Nash’s attempt to cope with his illness. The action rises and falls but the pace really lags, making the film feel much longer than its two-hour and 15 minute run time suggests.
Between the pacing and perhaps also being spoiled before seeing the film, A Beautiful Mind misses out on my lowest ‘great’ rating for a film. That doesn’t mean it’s not worth seeing though. If you like biopics and human drama, you’re bound to like this film. I’ll have to see the other nominees from 2001 before I can comment on its merits as a Best Picture winner.
This is going to be a very short review for a very long film. While recent biopics have focused on the most interesting parts of their subjects’ lives, Gandhi is devoted to painting a broad picture of the life and work of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. While there is no lack of drama and power, director Richard Attenborough’s approach results in a slow pace that will be a turn-off for many viewers. But if you are determined enough to tackle this lengthy, weighty film, you will find yourself awestruck.
