"Gandhi" (1982)

It is a sad fact that much of what I have retained about history has been derived not from textbooks nor from teachers, but from films.

"Gandhi" took 20 years to make and contains as much of the Mahatma's life as any biographical movie worth its salt should (no pun intended). Because it is not simply a story about the life of one man, but a country, it is an epic story, but Attenborough manages to tell it through a lean narrative structure. True, it is three hours long, but it is quite a feat when a storyteller is able to condense the life of a man, a man of Gandhi's stature no less, into three hours.

And what can one say about Sir Ben Kingsley that hasn't already been said? Watching the film, you forget that he isn't really Gandhi!

Fine performances from a superb cast including a bit part played by Daniel Day-Lewis. Strange, he's been popping up in every movie I've been watching lately (only two, but still).

Read Roger Ebert's 1982 review of the film here.

Screen captures from the film run along the bottom right column of this page.