Yogi's Movie Consumption Blog

The famous bio-pic of one of the most astounding man ever to live. It's been a while since I've watched the film, but what most lingers in my mind are the breathtaking visuals, the enormous scene at the funeral and Ben Kingsley's absolutely fantastic performance. Sometimes a film maker has everything at the right place: a great script, a fantastic lead, and an absolutely astonishing locations to set the story in. This is one of those cases. I consider writing a good biopic one of the hardest things to do. Especially in the case of Gandhi, the biography is so rich and full of details, it takes a master surgeon to disentangle the many possible strands the plot could follow. Attenborough chose to focus on the bizarre stubbornness of Gandhi. The first couple of scenes keep repeating that theme on less important incidents, but throughout the story Gandhi's will to perservere is gradually exemplified at increasingly difficult situations. Although there is the dange...

 A group of POW air force soldiers try to escape from a German war camp. As an ensemble piece the film offers quite a lot of opportunities for interesting scenes with many actors. Although many of these were quite exciting, the main attraction of the film was the economy with which each character was sketched. James Garner as the savvy black marketeer, Steve McQueen a stubborn escapee, and Attenborough as the unquestioned mastermind. There were many others, just as fascinating to watch. The film in itself is entertaining, but didn't bring me to the edge of the seat. The memorable scenes were the escape through the tunnel and the motorcycle chase which was sort of relaxing to watch. There is a long introduction how the real events were compressed into fewer persons and that some of the narrative twists and turns had been bent to fit the format of the movie better. I don't know the book but the adaptation works surprisingly well, especially compared to most of the other b...