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David Lean, the Director of "Doctor Zhivago", "Lawrence of Arabia" and "The Bridge on the River Kwai", invites you on . .
Cultural mistrust and false accusations doom a friendship in British colonial India between an Indian doctor, an Englishwoman engaged to marry a city magistrate, and an English educator.
CinemaSerf
Jun 8, 2023 · via TMDB
Sir David Lean has produced a spectacular piece of cinema in this lengthy adaptation of the E.M. Forster tale of the Raj. "Mrs. Moore" (Dame Peggy Ashcroft) is travelling to visit her son in India, accompanied by Judy Davis "Adela". They arrive to discover a society riddled with division and bigotry. After spending time at establishment events, they decide to experience a little of the traditional culture. With the help of "Aziz" (a superb Victor Banerjee) - a local doctor, they visit the legendary Marabar caves. There, something untoward happens - "Adela" rushes back to the city in a dishevelled state and "Aziz" finds himself in jail accused of an heinous crime. To be honest, the story isn't one of Forster's best but Lean has assembled a strong supporting cast including Sir Alec Guinness, James Fox with Nigel Havers and Richard Wilson epitomising the ignorance of the occupying power well. I found that the editing (again, done by Lean) missed the sharpness of someone like Anne V. Coates - a few too many scenic cutaways. That said, the major redeeming feature is the spectacular scale of the film; not just the scenery but the crowds and the score from Maurice Jarre. It isn't anywhere near as visceral as "Bridge on the River Kwai" nor the characters as good as "Lawrence of Arabia" but it is still a stunning film well worth a watch.
Filipe Manuel Neto
Jan 3, 2023 · via TMDB
**Although the film does justice to the colorful and rich Indian universe, it is a missed opportunity given the poor script construction.** This film is the last of director David Lean's career, a filmmaker who gave us a series of good films, being “Lawrence of Arabia” and “Doctor Zhivago” the best of all, for me. Here, the filmmaker brings us an adaptation of a novel I've never read, but which must be quite good: set in India during the interwar period, the story begins with the arrival of two Englishwomen, one of whom, Miss Quested, is engaged to a local English judge. Over time, they befriend Aziz, a Muslim doctor. Quested already had the will to live something adventurous, to feel the taste of India, but was always disappointed by her compatriots, who labeled Indians and preferred to emulate, in that country, the habits and environments of British society, without any “dangerous” mixture with people of a "darker race" and more "barbaric" culture. Finally, Quested gets Aziz to prepare an exploration on some distant caves, but the trip goes wrong, something happens, and Quested goes to accuse Aziz of attempted rape. I think that the film turns out to be a rather weak adaptation: dazzled by the oriental environments, Lean missed the most incisive themes of the plot: the ethnocentric relationship, full of prejudices and mutual mistrust, between the English and Indians; the political issue of Indian independence (which becomes relevant as the plot evolves); the mystery surrounding what really happened between Quested and Aziz, since the novel never clarifies whether her accusation is true. These themes are very poorly aligned by the script: in the film, it is obvious that Aziz is innocent, and Quested is turned into a frivolous, amorphous and unhappy woman, unsure of what she wants from her life and desirous of a strong emotion that social conventions don't allow her; secondly, the script never values the independence issue, turning it into a footnote, merely contextual; thirdly, despite the fact that the film deals quite well with British racist ethnocentrism, it almost does not address the way in which Indians saw the British, and the way in which they felt offended by their excesses. Everything is very relativized. In addition to the script problems, the film is also excessively long. Everything is stretched to the maximum, and many minutes are lost in magnificent and well done scenes that add nothing to the story. A lot of time is lost, even, in rather frivolous dialogues, while the legal battle, the most interesting part of the film, is secondary. And instead of the film ending right after the final decision, with a few scenes that enclose the fate of the characters, the film still stretches for a barren half hour, until an anticlimactic and uninteresting ending. The actors do what they can, and we have some good efforts here: Victor Banerjee is the most eminent actor, the most magnetic and charismatic figure, showing us the evolution of his character's ideas, whose opinion of the British gradually degrades with the events. Peggy Ashcroft also made a good effort, but the script sidelined her to the point of becoming an accessory. The same can be said of Sir Alec Guiness, wasted on a marginal work of no particular relevance. James Fox appears more or less in the middle and the plot suggests that the character will walk a certain path, but the ending is not quite as expected. Judy Davis, despite the hard work, has a terrible and extremely unpleasant character, so the actress's effort is not fruitful. It is in the more technical details that Lean shows his worth, for the rich and elegant cinematography, magnificently colored, which is complemented by the excellent sets, costumes and the careful choice of filming locations, which emphasize the exotic and mysterious side of India. The crowded market scenes, or those erotic ruins, are clear examples of what I mean. We just missed the smells! The worst is even Maurice Jarre's soundtrack. It's perfectly inappropriate and gives the film an unpleasant comedic environment.
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
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Judy Davis
Adela Quested
Victor Banerjee
Dr. Aziz H. Ahmed
Peggy Ashcroft
Mrs. Moore
James Fox
Richard Fielding
Alec Guinness
Professor Godbole
Nigel Havers
Ronny Heaslop
Richard Wilson
Mr. Turton
Michael Culver
Major McBryde
Art Malik
Mahmoud Ali
Saeed Jaffrey
Hamidullah
Clive Swift
Major Callendar
Ann Firbank
Mrs. Callendar
Roshan Seth
Amritrao
Rashid Karapiet
Das
Dina Pathak
Begum Hamidullah
Mellan Mitchell
Indian Businessman
Yash Agnihotri
Court Gallery Member (Uncredited)
Duncan Preston
Club Member (Uncredited)
Richard Graydon
Stunt Coordinator
David Lean
Director
David Lean
Editor
Maurice Jarre
Conductor
Maurice Jarre
Original Music Composer
David Lean
Screenplay
The Tower of Lies
LPDM by Nawal Kaffouf
Trhani
If Winter Comes
Pavlínka
The Power and the Glory
Bread and Salt
Little Box of Sweets
A Stroll to Syracuse
Apocalypse Now
Bloody Morning
Heartbreak Motel
Krishna and Kamsa
Puck
Anne of Green Gables
There Will Be Blood
2001: A Space Odyssey
Ugetsu
Cedie
William Wilson
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Freedom Writers
In the Name of the Father
The Notebook
The Cremator
Bird of the Storm
The Ornament of the World
Misery
The Count of Monte Cristo
Mississippi Burning
Fried Green Tomatoes
A Million Miles Away
The Dirty Dozen
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Jules and Jim
The Inquisitor
Hannah and Her Sisters
Obsession
Leave Her to Heaven
Wounded in the Forest
The Blind Woman of Sorrento
The Fugitive
The Motorcycle Diaries
Little Big Man
The Secret Garden
The Mission
When the Last Sword Is Drawn
Dean Spanley
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
A Monster Calls
The Guns of Navarone
From Here to Eternity
Midaq Alley
Pure Love
The Letter
The Idea of You
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Mothra
Fear Strikes Out
Ennu Ninte Moideen
The Fox and the Hound
Defendant
Clifford the Big Red Dog
The Nun's Night
Paddington
Fahrenheit 451
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Romance Doll
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My Hometown
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A Christmas Carol
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
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Lord Jim
Soldier Blue
The Shoes of the Fisherman
A Tale of Two Cities
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The Ultimate Actor
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Eye of the Needle
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The Work and the Glory II: American Zion
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Looking for Alibrandi
Ginza Cosmetics
The Red Lantern
The Indian in the Cupboard
Advantages of Travelling by Train
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2
The Seekers
Suddenly
Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
The Day of the Locust
Lord of the Flies
Ivanhoe
So Evil My Love
Obaba
John Carter
MR-9: Do or Die
Laal Singh Chaddha
Tragic Vacation
Ice Palace
American Heart
Sleepless
The Beauty of Beyoglu
Temno
Kidnapped
Dragostea și revoluția
True Blue
Rising Sun
Feast of Love
Oliver Twist
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny
The Country Doctor
Outlaw
The Omega Man
Sky Lovers
The Elementary Particles
A Tale of Two Cities
Youth Without Youth
The Neon Bible
What I Did for Love
Against All
Panipat
Anita and Me
Last Orders
Shout at the Devil
Our Meal for Tomorrow
Das Spinnennetz
Navráťte sa k otcom svojim
Deliverance
Her Hobby
How to Forget You
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Age of Consent
The 5th Wave
Tom Jones
Sahara
The Black Watch
The Demise of ETA
The Grump: In Search of an Escort
Butcher's Crossing
Life
Handling the Undead
Beloved
Silk
Two Queens and One Consort
The Ballad of the Sad Cafe
The Skeleton's Compass
All the King's Men
Audrey Rose
Varg Veum - Buried Dogs
Hoot
David Copperfield
A Kiss for a Killer
Go Ask Alice
The Angry Red Planet
Valkoiset ruusut
El lugar donde estuvo el paraíso
The Tiger Rising
The Rains of Ranchipur
The Turn of the Screw
Tell Me No Secrets
Mizhikal Sakshi
The River Why
The Musketeer
Iron & Blood: The Legend of Taras Bulba
Ardor
Kull the Conqueror
Boxing Helena
Who Killed Nancy?
The Passion of Ayn Rand
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Doctors' Wives
The Boy and the Convict
Murder in the Cassava Patch
Nehru
Na startu je delfín
Jarrapellejos
Godsend
Eaten Out of House and Home
Madame and Her Niece
Secret of the Cave
No Thank You
Sudden Outbursts of Emotions
Šílený kankán
Father Sergius
Battlefield Earth
Butterfly in the Typewriter
The Lifeboat
Jandamarra's War
Uloupené dětství
Dáma s barzojem
Marley
Děvče z hor
Džarkovia
The Invisible Life of Addie Larue
Horúčka
Gon-Mama
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Hajniks Wife
The Amazing Maurice: The Waters of Life
Voracious
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Getaway
Cafe «Izotop»
The Metamorphosis
Today, the two of us skipped
Veliká stavba
Paradise Lost
Cinnamon & Gunpowder
A Christmas Carol
My Own Last Supper
Dragon Girls
Evženie Grandetová
The Secret Battlefield
Jubelove deti
Ben-Hur
Thirteen Lives
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
Doctor Who: Last Christmas
Richard Jewell
The Best of Enemies
The Last of the Mohicans
The Guns of Navarone
The Physician
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Patriots Day
The Way Back
True Spirit
Munich - The Edge of War
Victoria & Abdul
The Boy in the Woods
In the Heart of the Sea
Against the Ice
Squanto: A Warrior's Tale
A Call to Spy
The Last Rifleman
A United Kingdom
Viceroy's House
Northwest Passage
Beyond Rangoon
The Wind and the Lion
Robin Hood
1492: Conquest of Paradise
Risen
The Last of the Mohicans
The Way West
The Jungle Book
Kings of the Sun
Baltimore
Cave Rescue
Dec 14, 1984
New York
Feb 1, 1985
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Seven Dorms of Death
2015
Preview
1982
Sign in to vote
Battle your watched movies head-to-head
Community Top Movies
Evil Dead II
1987 · 14 wins
The Dark Knight
2008 · 14 wins
Halloween
1978 · 13 wins
Final Destination
2000 · 12 wins
Halloween II
1981 · 11 wins
Trivia
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Movie Trivia
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