Richard Attenborough’s film Gandhi (1982) unveils the saga of the greatest Indian freedom fighter and political activist Mahatma Gandhi. Attenborough presents a realistic and chronological record of the events in Gandhi’s life related with Indian Independence Movement. He made Ben Kingsley, the popular British actor enacting the role of Gandhi. The film opens by showing the end of Gandhi, after being shot by a Hindu fanatic and his burial with thousands of people mourning. The burial scene of Gandhi in the film clearly shows it as a national tragedy and Gandhi as the father of the nation. The opening statement of the film, – "No man 's life can be encompassed in one telling. There is no way to give each year its allotted weight, to include each event, each person who helped to shape a lifetime. What can be done is to be faithful in spirit to the record and try to find one 's way to the heart of the man" – shows the respect of Attenborough to Gandhi and a glimpse to the way he is going to present Gandhi’s legendary freedom movement. The director resorts to a flash back mode in this film. After portraying the last episodes in Gandhi’s life, he then moves on to sketch the life of Gandhi as a young barrister in Africa. Gandhi faces the first bitter experience here in Africa while travelling in the first class train compartment. Though he possessed the reservation ticket, he was thrown out of the train due to the fact that the first class is reserved for the Europeans. He had to
In conclusion, Mahatma Gandhi was the primary leader of India’s independence movement and also the architect of a form of non-violent civil disobedience that would influence the world. He died sadly in 1948 when. Around one million people followed the precision as Gandhi’s body was carried in state through the streets of the
Gandhi is a biopic produced by Richard Attenborough whose lifelong dream was to make the story of the national independence leader’s life into a movie. The movie starts with Mohandas K. Gandhi, played by actor Ben Kingsley, rejecting all material possessions in pursuit of India’s independence. The storyline plays out to highlight important aspect of Gandhi’s life and ends with his assassination, where he utters the famous lines “Oh god.” Critics claim the movie is over exaggerated, however Attenborough does a fine job of bringing a visual of Gandhi’s life into Western eyes. In addition, what could be a bad thing ends up being a good thing for the layman who watches this movie. Attenborough oversimplifies Gandhi’s perspectives and ideas on social justice and religion, which leads to a very simple explanation of Gandhi’s philosophy.
Mahatma Gandhi is a trailblazer for change thru nonviolent resistance and compassion for others, even for his oppressors, that made a large impact on the world.
The essential of Gandhi is anthology of his life. It is separated into two parts. One as Gandhi the man and the other as the Mahatma meaning Great Soul. I was very much well interested in the readings of The Essential Gandhi. What I was most interested in was that he spoke with so much determination and compassion. His firm belief in nonviolence was presented very strongly. “I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent. Gandhi believed strongly in non-violent civil disobedience, so he states that violence provides only temporary relief or satisfaction, but the pain it causes people and societies is much greater. There is so much violence in the world today and some believe you have to fight violence with violence but Gandhi was very successful with his method of not acting upon violence in such of as in a hatred way. He solely helped India become independent with his method of nonviolence. Before I read this story I knew very little details of him, but the main thing that always puzzled me, what gave Gandhi the courage to make such a difference in the world?
In South Africa Gandhi was exposed to a level of racism that he had never experienced before. He was not allowed to wear his turban in a courtroom and he was not allowed to ride in the same cars as Europeans on the trains. While traveling to by train to Pretoria, he was asked to leave his seat for the van compartment. He refused and was kicked off the train.8 To get to his destination, he found a stagecoach going to Pretoria. He was not allowed to sit in the coach-box with the white passengers, but was forced to sit with the coachman. Later, he was asked to give up his seat to sit on the floorboard. Gandhi would not agree to this injustice. And, although he received a beating for it, he remained in his seat.9 These incidents led Gandhi to decide to fight for the rights of Indian workers in South Africa.
Inspired by Mohandas K. Gandhi’s philosophy of Satyagraha during his strive for freedom from government control, Attenborough depicts this in his film. During Gandhi’s first non-violent protest in South Africa, the cross-cutting between Gandhi burning legal documents outlining the rules of the Indians and the English policemen restraining Gandhi signifies the competing political perspectives that exist on the freedom and rights that should be given to Indians. Attenborough emphasises the concept of Satyagraha through Gandhi’s patience and non-violent rebuttal regardless of the Englishmen beating him. Similarly, following the Amritsar massacre, Gandhi reiterates his idea of fighting for the freedom of his nation as he claims people would prefer ‘their own bad government to the good government of an alien power’ which contradicts to the perspective of the British rulers who feel chaos would ensure if that was to occur. Attenborough motto in the film of “peaceful, non-violent, non-co-operation” highlights Gandhi’s motivation to give his people independence. Gandhi makes a statement on non-violent protests through the symbolic salt march scene where the panning of Gandhi marching
Mohandas Gandhi is one of the most popular and influential figures in the world. His political work, religious beliefs, values and morals captivated millions internationally. His path to become such a respected person is shaped by his religion and experiments occurred throughout his life. His relationship to food becomes a powerful fixation that allows him to form a greater connection to God as Truth, while leading him to express controversial disagreements during certain health issues.
On August 8, 1942 in Bombay, India, Gandhi gave a speech to many individuals in order to call for a peaceful, yet determined, resistance for the independance of India. Gandhi is speaking to influence the people of India to stand up and declare their independence from Great Britain. The idea of a peaceful protest is a main point of Gandhi’s speech. Gandhi was a very influential orator. A major aspect of Gandhi’s speech is the use of ethos and pathos. Although ethos and pathos are very apparent, a lot of his speech is driven by the effective use of logos.
Born in Porbandar, India, Gandhi studied law and organized boycotts against British institutions in peaceful forms of civil protest. He was killed in 1948.Even after Gandhi’s assassination, his commitment to nonviolence and his belief in simple living,making his own clothes, eating a vegetarian diet and using fasts for self-purification as well as a means of protest have been a beacon of hope for oppressed people throughout the world. Gandhi’s actions inspired future human rights movements around the
As I talked about earlier in this paper Gandhi was immersed in his culture and in his family traditions. They played a huge part in the journey of his life and in even planning significant parts of his journey like his marriage, career path and moral development. His life experiences also played a big role in how he developed his moral reasoning such as when he encountered prejudice on the train and as a result
Gandhi’s first hand experiences in dealing with discrimination began in South Africa. In Chapter VII ‘Some Experiences,’ Gandhi recalls on his first days of his arrival the incident at the Durban court
Gandhi, in the story showed how if people can come together, how strong we could be together.
Aroused by the massacre of Amritsar in 1919, Gandhi devoted his life to gaining India’s independence from Great Britain. As the dominant figure used his persuasive philosophy of non-violent confrontation, he inspired political activists with many persuasions throughout the world (Andrews 23). Not only was Mahatma Gandhi a great peacemaker, but also his work to achieve freedom and equality for all people was greatly acknowledged. Gandhi’s unconventional style of leadership gained him the love of a country and eventually enabled him to lead the independence movement in India.
Events in South Africa had made Gandhi a very well-known man in India and in 1915 he along with family in tow, arrives in Bombay, India which is where the following scene takes place. I immediately noticed that he was no longer wearing a suit, but instead the traditional clothing of the Indian people. Upon returning to India, the film depicts Gandhi taking on the English once again with the backing of millions of Indian supporters seeking independence from Great Britain. This done by once again forming a non-violent protesting organization. From here the film goes on to show violence brought to Gandhi’s followers, supporters, and the non-violent protestors by officials using force with gunfire, batons, etc. Afterwards, Gandhi was again imprisoned several times in India with one occurrence resulting in a six year sentence.
In South Africa, he involved himself in an attempt to end discrimination against the minority Indians residing there. During this course, he developed “satyagarha”, which translates into “soul force”, or an approach of non-violence resistance, against the British governments in South Africa. In the years following the World War I, Gandhi became a leading figure in India for his struggle to achieve independent from the mighty British rule. His willingness to tolerate the punishments and the prison confinement earned him the title of “ Mahatama”, a “great soul” in India in 1914. (Mohandas Gandhi, 2015)