AllMovie

This 2 1/2 hour long epic biopic from India recounts the crucial years Ghandi spent in South Africa. Beginning in Bombay as Mohandas Karamchand Ghandi begins practicing law after studying in England. One of his first assignments is to take a case over in South Africa in 1893. Ghandi is totally unprepared for the racism he encounters there. In court, he gets off to a rocky start when he refuses to doff his turban for a white judge. Later he joins the South African bar and obeys the rule. He also becomes an activist for East Indian rights and over the next 21 years launches a major civil rights movement based on pacifism. Ghandi also sets up two major cooperative farms and during the Boer War manages a Red Cross unit for the British Army. In addition to focusing on the great leader's humanitarian efforts, the filmmakers also offer a rarely chronicled look into Ghandi's personal life and the sacrifices his family made. The film's climax comes when Ghandi organizes and leads an enormous gathering of Indian laborers across South Africa.