Human Right Film Project: Gandhi

1. Human Right Film Project: Gandhi By Spencer Duncan

2. The Summary The movie , Gandhi, begins by showing his death. After this scene, the movie quickly backtracks to the beginning of his story to properly explain how Gandhi would end up being assassinated.

3. The Summary (continued) The first time we see Gandhi, he is on a train, headed towards South Africa, which is a part of England’s empire. Gandhi is quickly confronted by the conductor and another man, who both tell him that he cannot sit in first class because of the color of his skin. He is warned that if he does not move back to third class that they will throw him off the train at the next stop. Gandhi refuses to abide by this unfair rule and is kicked off the train.

4. The Summary(Continued) When Gandhi finally reached South Africa he was astonished at how badly the Indian people were being treated there. He quickly began to form a group of Indians who wanted equal rights and would peacefully protest to get them. Even though most of the people who supported Gandhi were arrested and harmed, they continued to protest and disobey the laws. Finally, after many trials, the Indians in South Africa were able to prevail and were given the same rights as Europeans.

5. The Summary (Continued) After succeeding in South Africa, Gandhi went back home to India. Once there, the Indian people expected him to help them regain more power in their homeland. Gandhi eventually began to lead the people, both Hindus and Muslims, in an effort to get freedom for the people of India.

6. The Summary(Continued) Instead of promoting acts of terrorism against the British, Gandhi encouraged people to protest by boycotting English goods and only buying goods made by Indians. After years of trying to gain independence and going on a hunger strike to prevent violence, he was able to create a free India that would be governed by the Indian people and that would have no caste system. The only thing that did not work as Gandhi had hoped or wanted was that the Muslim people broke away and formed East and West Pakistan.

7. The Summary(Continued) The new division between the Muslims and Hindus opened up hostilities and caused many deaths. To try and stop this, Gandhi began another hunger strike, vowing he would not end until after all fighting had stopped. The movie comes full circle after Gandhi ends his hunger strike because the fighting finally ends. He begins to plan a trip to Pakistan in order to create better relations between India and the Pakistans, but before he leaves on his trip he is assassinated by a fellow Hindu.

8. My Response After seeing the film and having done research on the events that took place in South Africa and India, I feel that the movie cannot fully convey the extent of the atrocities that the people were forced to deal with on a daily basis. The film just showed clips and talked about how people suffered, but it did not do a great job in helping the viewer even begin to comprehend how oppressive the British were to them. Even though the film was not able to convey the hardships faced by the people, I do believe that the movie is historically accurate.

9. My Response(Continued) I think that Ben Kingsley did a good job of portraying Gandhi. He brought out Gandhi’s gentle spirit in a believable manner. He helped to bring him to life and portrayed him as a person who acted on instinct and not, as I believe most people see him, as a person who thought everything through. An example of this is when Gandhi is on his way to South Africa and will not go back to third class even though the conductor tells him to. I feel this scene in the movie is extremely important and immediately helps the viewer flesh out Gandhi’s character more clearly. It shows us that Gandhi felt strongly that everyone should be treated equally and that he would react strongly and without much thought to unfairness.

10. My Response(Continued) I found Gandhi to be an interesting movie. It was amazing to watch Gandhi achieve the change he did through peaceful means rather than by force. The movie gave me a much better understanding of the events of that time and the important role that one man played in those events.

11. South Africa The British were able to gain control over the region known today as South Africa because the inhabitants were made up of tribes that would not unite to protect themselves. After the British gained control over South Africa they began to sell the inhabitants as slaves so that they could get money out of their newly acquired colony. This continued until the British Empire outlawed slavery and promised money to those who had been enslaved.

12. South Africa(Continued) Unfortunately, the enslaved South Africans were not granted any where close to the money they had been promised, which raised tensions between European settlers and the native Africans. To make things worse, as the British acquired more parts of South Africa, they forced the natives onto reserves that did not have as many natural resources as their old homes had. Not until the early twentieth century did things begin to improve for South Africa, when they were able to form a Congress so that the people could gain more rights. But it still took until the late twentieth century for South Africa to gain its independence.

13. Timeline in South Africa • 1806-British troops take control over parts of South Africa • 1833-Slavery banned in the British Empire, but compensation that had been promised to the people was less than what they had originally been told it would be • 1856- As England gained more land they forced Blacks to move to reserves • Mid-1850’s-Indians were brought to South Africa to work sugar plantations, which had bad working conditions • 1871- England controls diamond industry in South Africa • 1906- England claimed control over all of South Africa and her people • 1912- The African National Congress formed to help people of color gain more rights • 1914-1918- South Africa is forced to help fight the German troops • 1961- South Africa gains its independence and forms a republic

14. India India began to lose economic control over itself after the British East India Company was created. The company continued to gain control over India until it was ruling the entire country. After the company began to struggle to protect and hold India, the British government got involved and replaced the British East India Company. After the British government gained control over India they allowed the people of India to form the Indian National Congress to represent the people of India in parliament, however the party had no real power.

15. India (Continued) Things continued this way for a while. The people of India wanted more rights, but they did not know how to get them under the oppressive government. When Gandhi became the leader of the Indian National Congress, he promoted peaceful protest. Gandhi was eventually able to gain India its independence, however India was divided into three countries.

16. Timeline in India • 1757- The British East India Company is created and gains control over most of India • 1858- The British government takes control of India • 1885- The Indian National Congress was formed to help represent the people in the British parliament • 1914-1918- The Indians helped to fight in World War I but expected to gain their independence for helping the war effort • 1919- The INC began to campaign for self rule of India • 1920- Gandhi became leader of the movement to help India gain its independence through nonviolence and ignoring British laws that restricted the peoples’ rights • 1930- Gandhi leads the Salt March where the Indians made their own salt and defied British law that forbade them to • 1939-1945-India fought in World War II on the side of the allies to help increase their independence • 1947-India gains its independence but is split up into East Pakistan, West Pakistan, and India • 1948- Gandhi is assassinated by a fellow Hindu

17. Cause and Effect • The British were becoming imperialistic by trying to economically dominate other countries. In India’s case, this is how India lost all control over their government and were eventually taken over by the British. • In Africa, the native born Africans wanted their independence and were not being cooperative with the British. In order to fix this problem, the British government contracted with the Indians to do the work that the Africans were not doing. The Indians had horrible working conditions and received little pay, but did the work due to their dire need of money. • The British felt that they were superior to the people in the countries they had acquired and believed they had the right to control these countries because they thought that they knew what was best for them.

18. Cause and Effect(Continued) • The effect this had on the people was that they began to resent the British government for taking away there rights and leaving them in horrible living conditions. • These factors helped unite people that usually distrusted each other against the British and forced them to work together to create free countries.

19. Bibliography • Burrows, Larry. "India." The World Book Encyclopedia. Vol. 10. Chicago: Field Enterprises Educational Corporation, 1967. Print. • Kline, Hibberd V.B. "South Africa." The World Book Encyclopedia. Vol. 17. Chicago: Field Enterprises Educational Corporation, 1967. Print. • "History of South Africa." How Stuff Works. A Discovery Company, n.d. Web. 19 May 2011. <http://history.howstuffworks.com/african-history/history-of-south-africa.htm>. • "History of India." How Stuff Works. A Discovery Company, n.d. Web. 19 May 2011. <http://history.howstuffworks.com/asian-history/east-india-company.htm>. • Gandhi. Dir. Richard Attenborough. Perf. Ben Kingsley, John Gielgud, and Candice Bergen. Columbia Pictures, 1982. DVD.