"Gandhi" is long, boring, heavy handed and pretentious. It also features one of the most incredible performances ever captured by a camera in the form of Ben Kingsley as Mohandas K. Gandhi, the man who led India to independence from Great Britain. It is a truly fascinating and wonderful true story poorly handled by director Richard Attenborough. It somehow managed to snatch 8 Oscars.

The film is just over three hours, but I couldn't help but feel that it could have been cut down to two hours. Attenborough seems to have truly indulged himself here. I can almost hear his thoughts in the editing room:

"Hmmm...I am making a film about one of the most important people in history...I think I'm going to win an Oscar. Muwahahaha!...Geez, I sure shot a lot of stuff and I'm to lazy to cut it all out. No one will notice because this is an important film!"

Okay, Richard have fun. If you doubt this, than you obviously haven't seen his eight minute long Oscar acceptance speech where he rambled on and on forever and bored the pants off of millions of people. Also note the ego on display. The full title of the movie is "Richard Attenborough's Film: Gandhi."

That's beside the point. This is really just becoming insane rambling while I try to think of more ways to describe "boring."

So maybe I should just move on to Kingsley. Wow. Many actors have played real people, but few have literally BECOME these people. Kingsley IS Gandhi here. I completely forgot it was him ten minutes into the movie, and I was completely mesmerized. It's incredibly sad that one of the greatest performances of all time is stuck in this yawn-inducer.

© Written by Jacob Hall

How We Rated This Film TC Candler - A- Richard Propes - A- Jacob Hall - C+

TC Candler's Comment

Overrated in the sense that it should not have won the Oscar... However, it is still a well made film with an incredible performance from Ben Kingsley.

Richard Propes' Comment

For me, some movies go beyond words. Ben Kingsley became Gandhi and this fact, combined with stunning cinematography, astounding direction and brilliance down to the minute detail makes this a must see film.