Analysis Of Mahatma Gandhi

Director Richard Attenborough 's respect for Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948) is revealed in this film 's opening statement: "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."

1893-1914. Mohandas K. Gandhi (Ben Kingsley), a British-trained Indian lawyer, is thrown off a train in South Africa because he insists on riding in the first class section, which is reserved for Europeans. He spends the night on the cold station platform. At a meeting later, he learns that such humiliations are frequent occurrences for Indians

When mounted police charge an assembly of striking miners, the Indians lie down so the horses will not trample them. The workers and their leaders are arrested. In time, Gandhi is summoned from jail to meet with General Christiaan Smuts (Athol Fugard) who acknowledges the success of the Indians ' campaign and agrees to change the laws.

1915-1918. Gandhi returns to India and is given a hero 's welcome by the National Congress Party. At a reception, Gopal Krishna Gokhale (Shreeram Lagoo), a leader in the nationalism movement, urges Gandhi to learn as much as he can about the real India, to see "what needs to be said and what we need to hear." With Kasturbai, Charlie, and others, he journeys by train throughout the vast country.

At a meeting of the National Congress Party, Mohammed Ali Jinnah (Aleque Padamee), the leader of the Muslim League, demands that the British grant India Home Rule. Then Gandhi urges the surprised and increasingly impressed assembly to identify themselves with the masses in the villages where "Politics are confined to bread and

His imprisonment leads to widespread rioting throughout India. In Amritsar, British General Reginald Dyer (Edward Fox) orders his troops to fire without warning on a rally. Within 15 minutes, 1,650 bullets have caused 1,516 casualties.

After the Amritsar massacre, Gandhi warns the British that they are trying to be masters in someone else 's home. He plans further acts of nonviolent noncooperation.

At an open-air rally, he speaks to the masses, urging them to prove themselves worthy of independence by removing the stigma of untouchability from their hearts, by seeking Hindu-Muslim unity, and by rejecting European ways, thus returning to their national heritage, symbolized by the wearing of homespun cloth and a new emphasis on village crafts. Gandhi himself learns to use a spinning wheel.

The Mahatma 's ideas now begin to attract world attention. Madeline Slade, the daughter of an English admiral, becomes a devotee, accepting the name Mirabehn.

Then violence erupts again. A peaceful demonstration for Home Rule turns into a mob attack on a police station in Chauri Chauru, Bengal. A distraught Gandhi decides to undertake a fast until the people understand that "an eye for an eye only ends up leaving the whole world blind." Nursed by Kasturbai and Mirabehn, he fasts until Nehru reports that the Home Rule campaign has been