blanche-2
Nine Hours To Rama is the story of the Mahatma Gandhi's assassination in 1948. When I saw the film Gandhi with Ben Kingsley, I looked on the IMDb message board and someone asked if Gandhi was a fictional character. So in case you're not aware, he was the founder of the independence movement that led to the creation of India and Pakistan. He believed in nonviolent resistance, which got rid of the British, but the Muslims broke away and created Pakistan. War and conflict followed.A Hindu, Nathuram Gotse, blamed Gandhi for conceding too much to the Muslim separatist leader, Mohammed Ali Jinnah. He wasn't alone.The strongest performance in the film is that of J.S. Casshyap, who plays Gandhi - I actually felt like I was watching the great man himself. He did a fantastic job. Horst Buchholz, an incredibly handsome man who enjoyed a good career in America for a time, plays Gotse very well. As the police inspector, Jose Ferrer handled his role beautifully - he knows Gandhi is in danger, but Gandhi won't let him take any precautions or change his schedule.This film was released less than a year after the Kennedy assassination. The film states it is a work of fiction, as it focuses on Gotse and his various involvements.
jclark9
I watched this film completely at random from my library of "old VHS" I thought it to be a very good production, but probably of marginal interest to today's public.After I realized what the movie really portrayed, I was fascinated to pursue some of the other comments, a piece of history that has been "missed." Really some of this is very relevant to what is happening today. I very much appreciate the sentiments pro or con in the above reviews.Good movie overall, I'll not comment on the production, but would make the following observations: Bucholz - great performance, but where did he go from here? (I did see the obit); Ferrer - very impressed with his handling of his role; Morley - miscast and not in characterLastly. this was an AngloHollywood production of an IndoPakistani historic event. A Bollywood reproduction might prove interesting!
flolebus
I remember seeing this movie broadcast on television as young boy and being fascinated by the beautiful and exotic photography. I didn't even know who Ghandi was at that young age but was intrigued enough to watch the entire movie without really planning to. At that age I was watching sports on television mostly. I don't know much about the assassin, his motives and what happened after Ghandi's death. I would like to see if the movie is as good as I seem to remember it being today. With the increasing violence between India and Pakistan and terrorism in general, I would like to revisit this movie if possible. I am rather surprised that this movie made United States television considering how provincial and narrow-minded Americans tend to be about the rest of the world etc...
Poseidon-3
Though the work behind this film may have been admirable at the time and may have had good intentions, the result now is at best unspectacular and at worst insulting. Some intriguing titles by Saul Bass give way to a pretty pedestrian film. The story is torturously told...featuring the dreaded flashback approach and a gallery of clichéd characters and situations. The cast is a befuddling mixture of British, German, Puerto Rican, American and who knows what all else all shuffling around in dark contact lenses and "brownface" as they attempt to portray Indian people. They all adapt that hokey sing-song method of speaking which is an exaggerated and stereotypical version of how Indians relay the English language. It's worst sin is it's DULLNESS! From the man who would direct "Valley of the Dolls" and "Earthquake", one might have expected a touch more pizazz! The climactic assassination attempt is pretty tense and well handled, but getting there is no picnic.