A Passage to India

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CodyZamboni Z Jun 6 Colonial ruled India, and colonial blatant prejudice, is forefront of David Lean's adaption, How prejudice brings together, and tears friendships apart, And then brings them back together. Top notch cinematography and performances, See more nick s @Nick_S Jan 15 It's very well shot and well acted. But it strikes me as an immersive movie rather than a riveting one. I was quite bored. For all it's splendor I was left thinking "So where's it going? What's the point?" Lean is a great cinematographer's director but he doesn't hook the audience from the get go. I thought the acting was great in general but Banerjee's performance was a little stagey. See more Marcel d 01/24/2024 A fantastic film about prejudice and injustice. Truly a classic and a must-watch! See more Joe B 11/27/2023 Having seen around the time of release, I revisited it this year and was happy to see it's largely still very watchable. Whilst the characters now seem a little exaggerated, the themes still resonate today. Although seeing a browned up actor, this was early 80's, is uncomfortable. See more Leaburn O 08/18/2023 There are good moments but some of the characters are cartoonish and playing up to silly stereotypes. Felt far too long for a story that never really threatens to get going. Some interesting depictions of the Raj however. See more William L 08/08/2021 Alec Guinness was apparently so enamored with putting on brownface for David Lean that he did it again more than a quarter century later (after Lawrence of Arabia), and much darker. And strangely, it was not received with as much controversy as you might expect for a film that late; the British master of epics could get away with a lot. While much less biting than the Forster novel it is based on, Lean's cinematic adaptation of A Passage to India carries over many of the criticisms originally leveled against the British Raj, including assessments of character based on prejudice and hate that were ingrained not only into personal interactions but institutional practices. The establishment of this dynamic is rather clever - initially reserved to snide comments that a newly-arrived English delegation can brush off, the stances of the members of the established elite are brought to the forefront when a simple misunderstanding spins out of control. The tone of the film shifts widely in that moment, as what could have been a potboiler adventure of the period showcasing India as a tourist destination rather than a breathing country shifts to a bleak social drama. Nor are the criticisms limited to an overt, superficial hatred. The offense of refined sensibilities and an inability to condone healthy sexual expression actually serves as a trigger to the main plot, a near-laughable repression that is a hallmark of the Edwardian upper crust era of stiff collars and stiffer upper lips. The treatment of Davis's Adela in the aftermath of her recanted testimony, when she is abandoned by her supposed countrymen when she no longer can serve to support their twisted worldview, is a solid moment, and all of the above is interwoven with the development of sincere friendships that supercede cultural divides, rather than limiting the themes to simple "British bad, Indians good," content. While somewhat sanitized, intermittently predictable, and certainly not the same degree of pure visual expression that some have come to expect from Lean's prior work, A Passage to India is still a solid bookend to an internationally renowned directorial career. (3.5/5) See more Read all reviews

A Passage to India

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