Gandhi

By virtue of its subject matter, and of the prodigious effort that has gone into its production, Gandhi has to be considered one of the major British films of the year. Its subject is an Indian spiritual leader almost unknown to today's Western youth, who not only preached a more sophisticated and forceful version of the pacifist ethic than ever flowered in the '60s, but succeeded in using it to help liberate his country and change its political history. Of course the film raises more questions than it comes near to answering, but its faults rather pale beside the epic nature of its theme, and Kingsley's performance in the central role is outstanding.