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| That feeling when a nation rallies behind you |
The film begins on the day of Gandhi's assassination on 30 January 1948, where after an evening prayer, an elderly Gandhi is helped out for his evening walk to meet a large number of greeters and admirers. One of these visitors, Nathuram Godse, shoots him point blank in the chest. Gandhi exclaims, "Oh, God!" and then falls dead. The film then cuts to a huge procession at his funeral, which is attended by dignitaries from around the world. The movie then proceeds to a flash back of his entire life, starting with the faithful incident that started it all in 1893, where the 23-year-old Gandhi is thrown off a South African train for being an Indian sitting in a first-class compartment despite having a first-class ticket. Realising the laws are biased against Indians, he then decides to start a non-violent protest campaign for the rights of all Indians in South Africa. After numerous arrests and unwelcome international attention, the government finally relents by recognising some rights for Indians. After this victory, Gandhi is invited back to India, where he is now considered something of a national hero. He is urged to take up the fight for India's independence from the British Empire. Gandhi agrees, and mounts a non-violent non-cooperation campaign of unprecedented scale, coordinating millions of Indians nationwide. There are some setbacks, such as violence against the protesters and Gandhi's occasional imprisonment. Nevertheless, the campaign generates great attention, and Britain faces intense public pressure. After World War II, Britain finally grants Indian independence. Indians celebrate this victory, but their troubles are far from over. The country is subsequently divided by religion. It is decided that the northwest area and the eastern part of India (current-day Bangladesh), both places where Muslims are in the majority, will become a new country called Pakistan. It is hoped that by encouraging the Muslims to live in a separate country, violence will abate. Gandhi is opposed to the idea, and is even willing to allow Muhammad Ali Jinnah to become the first prime minister of India, but the Partition of India is carried out nevertheless. Religious tensions between Hindus and Muslims erupt into nationwide violence. Horrified, Gandhi declares a hunger strike, saying he will not eat until the fighting stops. The fighting does stop eventually, but Gandhi is now too weak. Gandhi spends his last days trying to bring about peace between both nations. He thereby angers many dissidents on both sides, one of whom (Godse) is involved in a conspiracy to assassinate him. As Godse shoots Gandhi in a scene seen at the start of the movie, the film cuts to black and Gandhi is heard in a voice-over, saying "Oh, God!" The audience then sees Gandhi's cremation; the film ending with a scene of Gandhi's ashes being scattered on the holy Ganga.
Analysis & Reflection :
Whilst watching the movie, it is apparent that the whole theme of the movie is of the prejudice and discrimination against the Indians by the British, and it is precisely this that fuels Gandhi's passion to try to gain independence for India and equality through non-violent means. First of all, prejudice is an unjustified or incorrect attitude (usually negative) towards an individual based solely on the individual’s membership of a social group. On the other hand, discrimination is the behavior or action(s), usually negative, towards an individual or group of people, especially on the basis of sex/race/social class, etc. Racial discrimination and social class discrimination are very evident in this movie.
Prejudice includes all three components of an attitude, namely Affective (A), Behavioural (B), and Cognitive (C) of the ABC model while discrimination only includes the behavioural component. The affective component consists of the emotions felt by someone, and in the context of this movie, an example could be "I am disgusted by Indians". The behavioural component is how one behaves when influenced by the attitude we have, which in the context of this movie could be "I will kick an Indian out of the train if I see one in the first-class department". Lastly, the cognitive component is the set of beliefs that a person has, for example, "I think Indians are inferior to British people'. All these components explained the attitude of the guards at the train, which ultimately led to them kicking Gandhi out of the train, which is an act of discrimination.
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| Don't discriminate :) |
Throughout the movie, Gandhi is presented as a humble individual and as the movie progresses to its end, Mahatma looks frail but his message is not shaken and he does not easily give up on what he has fought for. His resilience and consistency as well as an unraveled desire and quest for truth pays off in the end when the government of South Africa recognizes Indian rights after international pressure. Through this movie, I have learned that the use of violence is not the only option. This is especially the case when in the modern world, nations and some extremist groups are resulting to the use of force to make their stand known on a wide variety of issues. Through this movie, Gandhi can convince a lot of people that victory can be achieved without any kind of violence and other unrighteous tactics. He also shows that all of the people in this world are always in a great need for equality, in order to achieve the prosperous and blissful life.
Gandhi always instills the thought that no individual should be discriminated against based on their race, societal status, religion, sex and color. These values instilled within him might also have come from the ABC model of attitude, with his life experiences (such as being kicked off the train) influencing and creating his feelings (A), and his beliefs (C) that ultimately fueled his behaviour (B) (as seen in the movie).
Conclusion :
This movie brought me to the realization that we are all equal human beings and hence the social segregations we are accustomed to need not exist. In the movie, Gandhi is occasionally imprisoned for his convictions but his unfailing fighting spirit convinces me that no challenge is so great that it cannot be overcome by someone who works and tries their hardest to achieve what is desired. Furthermore, not only does Gandhi succeed through relentlessness and resilience, he also achieves it through non-violent means, which suggests that there is yet hope for world peace on Earth.
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| Non-violence is the best thing on Earth |
Rating : 8/10
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| It's always okay, cause in the end YOU WIN. |
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