| 
| Director: Richard Attenborough
Actors: Ben Kingsley, Candice Bergen, Edward Fox, John Gielgud, Trevor Howard
Studio: RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video
List Price: $29.95
Buy Used: $2.95
You Save: $27.00 (90%)
New (27) Used (37) Collectible (7) from $2.95
Rating:  192 reviews
Sales Rank: 10267
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Ntsc
Languages: English (Unknown), English (Original Language)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: VHS Tape
Number Of Items: 2
Running Time: 190 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 4.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 0800105141
UPC: 043396505032
EAN: 9780800105143
ASIN: 0800105141
Theatrical Release Date: December 8, 1982
Release Date: December 7, 1992
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Tape and box well cared for, with no damage.
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 192
 Basic Introduction to Achieving World Peace August 26, 2004
Robert D. Steele (Oakton, VA United States)
15 out of 19 found this review helpful
Edit: The core point below is that clashes of millions of adherents of different religions, i.e. Catholic versus everyone else, Muslim versus Hindu, are not new, and the past does indeed demonstrate that force of arms is an ineffective means--indeed a pathological means that makes it worse--for addressing such schisms. Gandhi, and Gandhi alone, has shown the way with proven success at the level of Nations and Peoples.
9-11 focused some of us, but not enough of us, on the monumental issues of war and peace such as have not occurred since World War II--the Cold War being, as Derek Leebaert documents so well in "The Fifty Year Wound", a false war, one with enormous costs to all mankind.
I bought this video recently--having seen it many years ago--to refresh my memory on the essence of Gandhi and his proven concept of non-violent resistance. The DVD capped several years of reading in the non-fiction national security arena (see my other 470+ reviews on war and peace), and has proven to be the ultimate primer as well as the ultimate Master's Seminar.
This is the movie to watch if you want to get down to fundamentals; Gandhi's three basic lessons of war and peace as shown so beautifully here are these: 1) the only devils are in our own minds; 2) the separation of Pakistan and India, like the separation of Palestine and Israel, violated the civil order between Muslims and Hindus, and destroyed all that Gandhi had achieved: peaceful coexistence of peoples within a single nation; and 3) in the end, after great pain, truth and love inevitably triumph.
Although I was tempted to fast-forward to the current six-front 100-year war between radicalized Islam and militarized America on the one hand, and between impoverished billions and corporate America on the other, I paused to reflect on the past first. It was the Spanish who first committed genocide against the American Indians, who expelled the Muslims and then the Jews, who sponsored the Inquisition and the Crusades. It was the British who stupidly pitted Muslim against Hindu in their attempts to assert their imperial will--nothing makes them look as stupid as the movie's coverage of how the "Empire" forbade the locals to take salt from their very own sea: the Indian Sea.
Now I fast forward to our current circumstances, with special reference to Jonathan Schell's "Unconquerable World," perhaps complemented by Clyde Prestowitz' "Rogue Nation" (the US), and Chalmers Johnson "Sorrows of Empire"--and the other 470+ books relevant to war and peace today. Bottom line: boy, have we screwed this up. First off, invading Afghanistan made Al Qaeda stronger, not weaker. Second off, invading Iraq has made America weaker, not stronger, and inflamed the Middle East, Central Asia, Eastern Africa, the Pacific Rim, and the Muslim populations in the Americas.
We need a Gandhi. I cannot think of any modern leader who is even close, although the current Pope has certainly tried. This movie depicts, in terms stark and relevant, the opposite of 9-11--the clash of mobs driven by ideology or religion, completely oblivious to the core facts that Gandhi tried to teach: non-violence, love, truth, the Golden Rule. All else is evil.
If you have time for just one serious DVD, this is it.
 Good - but do some history homework first August 15, 2000
Marcie E. Bloom (Chicago, Illinois United States)
14 out of 21 found this review helpful
I like this film in some ways, but there are historical inaccuracies. First, someone mentioned that Kingsley is Indian. This is only partly true, because he is only a quarter Indian. So, there is something to the argument of "why couldnt they find a real Indian Actor?" I think its a fair question.second - Nehru is seen as defering to Ghandi throughout the film. This is a false portrayal. Nehru had his own fiercly held independent beliefs, and although the two men were friends, they had serious differences over the Mother Cow laws, to name just one example. Nehru was more influenced by Moghul and English culture, and held on to that. Hr even once said that he was probably the last Englishman to rule India. And he never deferred to Gandhi. Also - this portrayal of Ghandi the saint. In real life, he was complicated. But I guess we are asking too much sometimes when we want film to portray people as morally complicated. The truth is he probably wasnt a very good father. His children hated him. One of them became a muslim because he hated his father so much, and later an alcoholic. There is much more to this man than meets the eye. So, do yourself a favor. Use this film not as your sole source of knowing about this period of history. After all, you shouldnt rely on film as your only source of understanding history. If you do, your never really going to know anything. So, do yourself a favor and read a few books as well, and you will not have a one-dimensional understanding of history. If you rely on only this film, you remain uninformed.
 Resistance. August 2, 2001
13 out of 34 found this review helpful
Pauline Kael said something funny about this movie: "When I left the theater after watching *Gandhi*, I felt the same way that the British must have felt after leaving India: exhausted and relieved." Amen, sister. This was a project that Sir Richard Attenborough spent 20 years trying to realize. (Why bother?) It came out in 1982, and, indeed, reflects the style of "epics" that were popular when Mr. Attenborough first conceived this project two decades before: sprawling, massive, dull. In other words, it's a David Lean movie. (Who, btw, was to over-go and correct *Gandhi* with his splendid *A Passage to India*, perhaps his best work.) Don't get me wrong: there are indeed plenty of reasons to make a movie about the Mahatma. I merely observe that laboring to present a solemnly worshipful, sanitized, "official" portrait of the man is not the best reason. Beyond the motives for the movie, it's blandly simple, storywise. Attenborough chose to alternate incessantly between two basic scenes: first, there are Gandhi's policy ideas, commandments, and words of wisdom delivered for our edification -- never subject to debate, incidentally, just simply laid down as THE LAW; followed by merciless beatings and massacres of the Indian people by the British. I do not judge. I merely observe that 3 hours of alternation between speaking and clubbing, pontificating and beating, reveals a profound lack of narrative expertise. However, Ben Kingley's portrayal of the Mahatma is charming, effective, fully worthy of the Oscar he received, and the prime justification for this movie in the first place.
What a Great Soul he was November 8, 2005
MortensOrchid (Cleveland, OH)
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
I watched this movie years ago having not seen it since I was a kid. After watching it I decided to write my senior research paper about him, as I wanted an excuse to not just read and absorb him, but gush about him to someone.
Gandhi was a great man. What a tale it is, from being a reletively simple, unknown attorney to becoming one of the greatest world leaders in history. His turning point moment came when he was thrown off a train for sitting in the first class car in South Africa. He would not allow for Indians to be treated like third class citizens anymore and moved towards equality. Not only did he achieve the smaller equalities, but he overthrew the British Empire's occupation and at long last freed India.
I will spare the blow by blow of this movie, as it tells his story so well (if just glossing over just a few of his major points and good works for people). But this movie, as well as his written work, taught me how to be a better person. Despite how corny and silly that may sound of me, I learned not to complain. Even the scummiest of jobs (ex. rake and cover the latrine) you do with joy. People lash out at others when they are angry and unhappy, and yes they hurt you, but you will not be beaten down if you realize that happiness is not handed to you but earned by our own efforts. I always remember his words in my darkest hours ...
"When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderes, for a time they can seem invincable but in the end they always fall. Think of it. Always."
If that doesn't bring tears to your eyes, then nothing will.
An epic film in only an above average DVD August 29, 2001
Arvin Casas (Philadelphia, PA United States)
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
I've eagerly waited for this movie to come out on DVD for quite some time. Like many films in Columbia's archives (e.g. Lawrence of Arabia), Gandhi has taken its time to find its way to DVD. As a DVD package, Columbia Tri-Star has done an interesting, yet only minimal job. The Gandhi DVD case comes in a special translucent plastic sleeve with a color photo illustrated Wall Street Journal review insert. Of the DVD extras, of interest is an interview with Ben Kingsley, with his recollections of the production, including many insights into the behind-the-scenes workings and his own methods and feelings about working alongside many of Britain's "Knights of the Cinema" (e.g., Sirs John Gielgud, John Mills, et al). Of historical interest is a collection of period newsreels including one rare recording of the real Gandhi. (A minor embarrassment occurs in the Actor's filmography section where for Trevor Howard a photo of John Mills is displayed!) In comparison with Columbia Tri-Star's special releases of Lawrence of Arabia and Bridge on the River Kwai, this release of Gandhi on DVD pales in comparison. While the inter-option transitions are smoothly animated and the extras earn this DVD a higher ranking than say any of the meager DVD offerings that Paramount has offered to date, what Kingsley himself calls one of the "last epics," Gandhi has only been given "above average" DVD treatment.
|
|
|
