Movie Review of Gandhi

In the film Gandhi, the main focus is on Gandhi’s involvement in several protests and the Partition of India. Gandhi was a peaceful protestor in this time of great violence and religious intolerance between Hindus and Muslims. Even though Hinduism and Islam were both violent alternatives of the versions in the film compared to the courseware, Gandhi did not let their negativity influence him and kept his peaceful protests always.

The two religions presented in the film are Hinduism and Islam. The main focus on Gandhi’s life in the film is during the Partition of India. India gained independence from Great Britain after WWII, which caused a huge division of the country due to conflicting interests of the Hindu and Muslim communities, but other events happened first. The first major event where the two religions can be seen is when Gandhi wants to boycott the British textile industry by burning any British cloth and having the Indian people weave their own. Gandhi promoted the idea of a peaceful protest, but the protests filled with both Hindus and Muslims soon turned violent and angry, which caused the police to get involved. The next major event with both religions is the start of the schism that would occur between Hindus and Muslims. After India became independent, it was decided that the northwestern and eastern part of India would become Pakistan, because of the high volume of Muslims living in that area. The idea was that by offering Muslims their own country, violence might lessen in India. However, that would not occur; instead, violent attacks broke out between both Hindus and Muslims when the Partition was passed. This civil war resulted in around one and two million killed and 15 million displaced. Gandhi tries to stop the war by a peaceful hunger strike, but this angers both sides even more. The civil war between the Hindus and Muslims does eventually stop, but Gandhi is assassinated by Godse, due to the anger his hunger strike incited.

Gandhi is greatly affected by Hinduism and Islam during his life; however, he was raised as a Hindu but considered himself a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, and a Hindu. He tries to boycott the British textile industry by peaceful means, but soon the groups, both Hindus, and Muslims, become angry and violent towards the textile industry and police. This leads to several violent attacks from the British police and more aggressive protests from the protesters, which includes the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Gandhi is horrified by the violence, but is also disappointed and angered that his peaceful message was interpreted incorrectly and corrupted. Gandhi is much more affected by the religious divides in India after the British leave in 1949. This religious divide was the basis of the Partition of India, but Gandhi suggested that Muhammad Ali Jinnah, a Muslim, should be the first Prime Minister of India. The Hindu population is outraged because they feel that Gandhi is trying to give the Muslims an unfair advantage, even though they are the minority in India. Muhammad Ali Jinnah is not elected as the first Prime Minister, and the Partition is passed. This caused millions of people to be displaced or dead, which caused Gandhi to start a hunger strike until religious intolerance was gone in India. While Gandhi was on strike he had a Hindu man come see him beg forgiveness because he had killed a Muslim boy in retaliation for the killing of his son. Gandhi never broke his fast but told the