WHEN EAST AND WEST COLLIDE...
This is a magnificent and exquisitely wrought film, well nuanced and faithful in its adaptation of E.M. Forster's classic novel of the same name. Director David Lean, who had previously directed such cinematic triumphs as "Bridge on the River Kwai" and "Lawrence of Arabia", outdid himself with this film, which was nominated for eleven Academy Awards and for which Peggy Ashcroft won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, as did Maurice Jarre for Best Score.
Set in 1928 colonial India, it is a story about racism and love. A headstrong and adventurous Englishwoman, Adela Quested (Judy Davis) travels to India to meet her fiance. She is accompanied on her journey by her fiance's elderly mother, Mrs. Moore (Peggy Ashcroft), a lovely and kindly woman who, upon reaching India, is appalled at the treatment of the native Indian populace by her own countrymen. She eventually makes the acquaintance of a very nice Indian man, Dr. Aziz (Victor Banerjee), who is...
A Quiet, Delicate Beauty
When David Lean's "A Passage to India" opened in 1984, some saw it as a showdown between the glory days of literate epic filmmaking and the "feel-good" ethos of the Lucas/Spielberg popcorn juggernauts. Who better than the director of "Lawrence of Arabia," "Doctor Zhivago" and "Bridge on the River Kwai" to show the film school grads how to make a movie? As always, anything burdened by such mythic expectations is bound to fail ("Phantom Menace" anyone?) Sadly, I joined the chorus of detractors lamenting "Passage" as a poor shadow of the "Leanscapes" that catapulted "Lawrence" and "Zhivago" into film history.
Amazing how age softens perspective. A fresh viewing of "Passage," courtesy of Columbia TriStar Home Video's new DVD, reveals an eloquent adaptation of E.M. Forster's complex novel about British colonialism in 1928 India and the cultural and sensual abysses that separate...
well crafted prose postcard
Very interesting examination of English and Indian attitudes about themselves and each other in 1920's India. The English that reside in India may start off as decent folk with the feeling that they are in the business of improving India and some are. Most however merely see the India venture as an employment opportunity and once there merely carry on being English and force their English ways and rules on Indians whom they demean in the process. Lean presents the stereotypical English administrators and their wives as a rather unappealing bunch of snobs who only become more prejudice the longer they stay on. India is seen by them to be a muddle in need of their administrative and civilizing skills. The Indians of course see things quite differently. British snobbery and decorum prevents any social mixing with the Indians they rule so its no surprise they don't understand the people whose country they are in.
Judy Davis and her fiances mother arrive in India and find the...
Click to Editorial Reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment