Absolutely stunning in most every regard imaginable, Richard Attenborough’s 1982 Best Picture Oscar Winner Gandhi lives up to its marketing tagline of being a “world event”. And while it almost threatens to reduce the accomplishment of the film, not to mention the sainted subject of the film, it’s nigh upon impossible to discuss Gandhi without viewing it through the lens of today’s burgeoning authoritarian times and applying the wisdom of one of the greatest leaders of modernity to the stupidity and tragedy of our current vacuum of authentic leadership. Forgive me if any of my reflections on the film appear reductive, but as the film and the man at the center of it inspired me, confounded me, and convicted me, I couldn’t help but yearn for leaders like Mohandas K. Gandhi to emerge today, and to feel that I myself must sacrifice more as well.
At over 3 hours in length, Gandhi is presented across 2 4K UHD discs in this steelbook release of the classic film. Nothing feels quite so epic as having to split a film across 2 pieces of physical media, which often happened in those double VHS days. Perhaps one of the most astounding things about the Oscar winning script from John Briley, however, is how incredibly propulsive it feels. Gandhi’s life more than justifies the epic runtime, and the story covers nothing of his childhood, but rather picks up as he first embarks on civil disobedience as a young man and lawyer practicing in South Africa. It may feel like standard biopic faire today, but covering decades of a remarkable life by capturing the sort of “essence” of a man who became a legend and brought an end to British colonial rule in India works like gangbusters here. Sometimes there are just people talking in a room, but the conversations are of consequential import. Other times there are sequences of absolute grandeur, featuring tens of thousands of extras, shot on location in India by cinematographer Billy Williams, who also took home an Oscar for his work. The length of the film, the scope of the film, the scale of the project, all seem daunting and borderline impossible, but modern day viewers shouldn’t be intimidated. It all goes down gloriously, enthrallingly, inspiringly. This isn’t homework cinema, it’s power for the people.
Despite its massive scale and scope, Gandhi was apparently highly controversial to create, was championed by Richard Attenborough for decades before it was completed, and didn’t have an exorbitant studio budget behind it. And yes, there’s always been some controversy around the casting of Ben Kingsley as Gandhi and the general whiteness and Britishness of many who made the film. Those are worthy concerns in an era where we’re regressing dramatically in areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion. However, when looking back on a completed work from 1982 that took home 8 Oscars and was nominated for 11, one must acknowledge that any controversy or scepticism aside, the film made a massive impact and stands as a powerful work that speaks prophetically across the ages. Of course, it’s Gandhi himself who will continue to make Empire’s quake, but this film adaptation of his life brings him to the masses in a profoundly digestible and artful way.
Brigadier: You don’t think we’re just going to walk out of India!
Gandhi: Yes. In the end, you will walk out. Because 100,000 Englishmen simply cannot control 350 million Indians, if those Indians refuse to cooperate.
As a Jesus guy, myself, I’m deeply moved by the concept of self sacrifice in leadership, of laying down one’s life for a cause, of non-violence holding a deeper power than coercion and threats and extermination. At my core I’m simply moved by the theology and depth of character and authenticity required by individuals such as Jesus, Gandhi, or Martin Luther King, Jr. to topple empires through profound self sacrifice, non-cooperation, and moral clarity that when concentrated, lays bare the inherent weakness of cruel empire.
One of the most powerful sequences depicted in the film doesn’t even involve Gandhi himself, but when throngs of his followers push to enter a factory where they’re being barred from work, they simply line up and walk, non-violently, into the path of British soldiers who brutally club them. Wave after wave of brave Indians symbolically approach the British Empire asking only to work, to govern themselves, to live. They’re met with batons, beaten and broken. But they keep coming, proving Gandhi’s point that the Indians simply cannot be controlled when they’re uncooperative and brave. As Martin Sheen’s western reporter character Vince Walker observes this stunning display, he reports to the world “Whatever moral ascendancy the West once held was lost here today. India is free, for she has taken all that steel and cruelty can give and she has neither cringed nor retreated.”
So yes, the film shows us the stunning wisdom, selflessness, and consistent authenticity of Gandhi the human being, embodied with incredible physicality, wit, and passion by Kingsley. And it grounds us in the context in which the events took place, giving a sense of why England would be so reticent to relinquish control of their Empire, but also the moral depravity that Empire engenders, not the least of which is a massacre depicted right in the middle of the film, which is terrifying and heart-rending, and which further proves that India simply cannot and will not be controlled by a foreign Empire that kills them.
But the film, and its subject, also reach out, beyond their time and context, speaking prophetically to us, today. This 1982 film feels achingly salient as we gear up once again to battle against division and hatred and scrounge around desperately for tools that can work against seemingly impervious powers. Mahatma Gandhi was both a mortal man, who would die if he didn’t eat, and through his profound self sacrifice also became a never ending symbol and prophet, who convicts and haunts us, and whose profound tactics will continue to provide a roadmap to freedom for our generation and for civilizations that follow.
“Gandhi: Whenever I despair, I remember that the way of truth and love has always won. There may be tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they may seem invincible, but in the end, they always fail. Think of it: always.”
The Package
This is an absolutely resplendent film that pops off of its 4K UHD disc directly into your heart. Kingsley’s Gandhi is both human and larger than life. India is shot with a scope and grandeur that’s nothing less than majestic. Maybe I’m throwing around too many superlatives here, but Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi feels like a remarkable accomplishment to the cinematic artform that is here done enormous justice with a prestigious package packed to the gills with bonus features.
DISC DETAILS & BONUS MATERIALS (From Sony)
4K ULTRA HD DISCS
- Feature presented across two discs in 4K resolution with Dolby Vision, fully restored from the original camera negative
- English Dolby Atmos + English 5.1 + English 2.0
- Special Feature:
- Theatrical Trailers
FEATURE BLU-RAY DISC™
- Feature presented in high definition
- English 5.1
- Special Features:
- Introduction & Commentary with Director Richard Attenborough
- Gandhi’s Legacy: Feature-Length Picture-in-Graphics Track
SPECIAL FEATURE BLU-RAY DISC™
- Special Features:
- Sir Ben Kingsley Talks about Gandhi
- Vintage Newsreel Footage
- In Search of Gandhi
- Reflections on Ben
- Madeleine Slade: An Englishwoman Abroad
- The Funeral
- Looking Back
- Shooting an Epic in India
- Designing Gandhi
- From the Director’s Chair
- The Words of Mahatma Gandhi
- The Making of Gandhi Photo Montage
And I’m Out.
Gandhi returns to 4K Ultra HD Disc via Limited Edition Steelbook from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment 4/29/25
