Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Actor 1982

The Contenders:

Ben Kingsley: Gandhi (winner)
Jack Lemmon: Missing
Peter O’Toole: My Favorite Year
Dustin Hoffman: Tootsie
Paul Newman: The Verdict

Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Original Screenplay 1982

The Contenders:

Diner
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Gandhi (winner)
An Officer and a Gentleman
Tootsie

Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Picture 1982

The Contenders:
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Gandhi (winner)
Missing
Tootsie
The Verdict

Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Director 1982

The Contenders:
Wolfgang Peterson: Das Boot
Steven Spielberg: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Richard Attenborough: Gandhi (winner)
Sydney Pollack: Tootsie
Sidney Lumet: The Verdict

Peaceful Warrior

Film: Gandhi
Format: Streaming video from NetFlix on rockin’ flatscreen.

Roger Ebert classifies a particular set of films as “Gandhi” films. What he means by this is a film that you are happy to have seen, but that you never wish to see again. I can think of several films that fit that qualification for me--Requiem for a Dream, American History X, and a few others. Oddly, though, Gandhi doesn’t fit in that category. It’s been years since I watched it until today. I’d watch it again in the future, but it will be some time before I find the need or desire to see it again.

As the name of the film suggests, this is a biopic of the life of Mohandas K. “Mahatma” Gandhi, the central figure in India’s push for home rule and independence from the British Empire. It is not a complete biopic, of course. It starts with Gandhi’s time in South Africa, figuring (correctly) that the audience is less interested in the formative years of Gandhi’s life and more interested in the formative years of his philosophy. Gandhi (played by Ben Kingsley) discovers that South Africa is brimming with racism, not just against the Africans, but against anyone who isn’t white. In what will become a theme for the entire 190-minute running time of the film, Gandhi fights against this oppression without raising his hand against it.