BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

arjunflamingfeather The answer to a movie is like icing on a pudding with sugar coating that tastes sweet to the tongue and smells like frosting on a cake but in 'A Passage To India' the 'London Bridge is falling down, falling down' does not make sense because colonial India had the government in the British control with third world Indians who learned the first English from the British. Arguments like for our sake sums foreign educated elites like the pioneers of certain institutions whom have trusted us with bringing prosperity to the Ashram where we've studied did not allow us to leave but to take a trust to return. Returning or the passage to the Ashram is without furthering the influence of the outside world at the Institutional level. The warm receptions of a Naipaul Classic novel at universities though not in the syllabus is the academic assurance that 'a passage to India' is a masterpiece in adventure.

vincentlynch-moonoi I identify quite a bit with this film. I've never been to India, but beginning in the mid-1980s I began frequent long summers in Thailand, and then lived there for a couple of years after retirement. Some of the same themes I see in this film I confronted in Thailand. You might think that odd since we are talking about almost a century apart from the novel and my travels, but the feeling not at home in a different culture could sometimes be pervasive. Being looked at as a foreigner was a common theme. And I often got off the beaten path and visited some pretty remote places...often alone...and a few times I felt sort of like the character Adela when she visited the overgrown Indian temple and was frightened by the monkeys.To begin with, this is one of those marvelous tales told by one of filmdom's greatest directors -- David Lean. It is, perhaps, not as ground breaking as "Dr. Zhivago" or "Lawrence Of Arabia", but it surpasses all his other films due to the haunting story so well told and the exquisite photography.It's a rare story that has so many interesting characters. The most interesting is Mrs. Moore, as played by Peggy Ashcroft. She is one of two characters in the story/film who seem to have a gut understanding of India and the unfairness of the British occupation. As Professor Godbole says, Mrs. Moore is a very old soul, and implies that in a former life she may very well have lived in India. Ashcroft is wonderful in this film! And, to a degree, the entire plot of the story revolves around her...even in death.The other character who understands things as Mrs. Moore does is Richard Fielding, as played by James Fox, the teacher. He doesn't hold to the strict class lines in the India of the time. I've always enjoyed Fox's roles in film, and this is certainly no exception.The third most interesting character is Dr. Aziz Ahmed, as played by Victor Banerjee. Ahmed, a doctor of the Muslim faith, is torn between disliking the British, and being open to them and their culture. He is particularly drawn to Mrs. Moore. Banerje is excellent here, as well.I wasn't overly impressed with Judy Davis, the young lady who has the breakdown in the caves, but she played the role satisfactorily.The one casting I disagree with here is of Alec Guinness as the weird Professor Godbole, a Hindu. Guinness does a fine job with the role...actually quite amusing, but why did David Lean have to cast a White person when there are so many talented Indian actors? Of course, the answer is that Lean and Guinness go way back. But I still think it was a poor casting choice.Nigel Havers does nicely as the Brit with the stiff upper lip as he is jilted twice. He is key to understanding the attitude problem the British had toward the Indians.Clive Swift was great at being the stone-faced British official...but we had no idea whether he had any actual acting ability. Ann Firbank, who played his wife, was better at being upper class snooty British.This film is, quite simply, a masterpiece of film-making.

TheLittleSongbird Rewatching A Passage to India after a few years, it is not one of my favourite David Lean films like Lawrence of Arabia, Great Expectations, Bridge on the River Kwai, Brief Encounter and Oliver Twist are, but for a swansong of a great director (one of my personal favourites actually) it's a very good one, but I do remember liking it more on first watch.A Passage to India is not perfect, it ends anti-climactically and parts feel overlong and stretched with some drifting storytelling. This is also a rare case where the normally great Alec Guiness felt wasted and miscast, he never convinces in his very underwritten role and the performance is filled with uncharacteristically over-stated mannerisms.However, Lean directs superbly and the film is lavishly made with typically luscious cinematography, lavish period detail and some of the most gorgeously evocative scenery of any Lean film (in a filmography of films filled with gorgeous scenery). Maurice Jarre's music score has been criticised for being an ill-fit, for me while lacking the Indian flavour and a tad too jaunty in the credits it is sumptuously scored, soaringly epic, sounds glorious and evokes a lot of emotion. The script is literate and very beautifully written, capturing the essence of Forster's writing while not feeling overly wordy or heavy, while the story is rich in atmosphere and explores the important themes of colonialism, relationships between cultures and the British Empire and its imperialism in a subtle but powerful way.The film has been criticised for its pacing, and while there are a few draggy moments due to a few scenes feeling too stretched the main reason for the deliberate pacing was most likely for the viewer to soak up the setting and its atmosphere, A Passage to India does this brilliantly (and this is true for Lean's work in general as well). The part covering the trial is mostly fantastic but could have been longer, and the characters and their interactions are fascinating and well-realised. The acting is truly excellent, Peggy Ashcroft rightfully won an Oscar for her divine performance (especially in the temple scene) and Judy Davis is every bit her equal in a difficult but impulsively and movingly played performance. James Fox is remarkably thoughtful and sympathetic in his role, and Victor Banerjee gives his caricature role a real expressivity.Overall, a very good swansong from Lean and a very good film. 7.5/10 Bethany Cox

oparthenon Capturing the subtle and the grand details of Forster's original novel, A Passage to India remains, decades after its making, one of the great films of the last half-century. No need for a lengthy review here -- unnecessary given the 76 previous reviews. I will, however, comment on the casting of Alec Guinness. It is possible in film theory to talk about miscasting as a directing tactic. As I've stated in other reviews of mine, Kubrick so casted; it was almost a trademark for him. Hitchcock occasionally was forced to miscast; and Lean is another -- there are probably hundreds more examples from the last century of cinema. The point is, however, to ask, does the miscasting work, and why? And it does, of course, work in this film.Forster created in Godbole a cryptic commentator on the British presence in India -- a kind of sub-continental Greek chorus. How to convey this subtlety cinemagraphically? Lean manages a dual-role characterization by casting a veteran English actor as a Brahmin. It should be pointed out that the Indian people are, as the character Turton (the 'Collector' for Chandrapore) remarks early in the film, "our Aryan brothers" -- they are not of a different 'race' but genetically close to Europeans --they are simply darker skinned. Guinness' camp Godbole (who is perhaps less campy in Forster) perfectly captures this duality -- though I do not say that no other actor (including a native Indian actor) might not have as well. Otherwise there's no use remarking still another time on the film's greatness: some of the most remarkable cinematography (the crowd scenes at the opening, the almost-running down of Aziz and Ali on bicycles, the scene with the monkeys at the ruined temple, Aziz framed by one of the openings in the Marabar Caves as Adela lights a match -- the list is quite long.) Add to this, remarkable acting, memorable characters uniquely captured (Amritrao, Aziz' lawyer, is immemorable though he speaks perhaps four lines) -- this list is a long one as well.And finally, the theme: typically Lean, it is larger than ordinary existence and yet intimate at the same time: nothing less than the morality of colonialism in India as mirrored in the neurotic emotional state of a woman who represses all erotic feeling. Lean's achievement in film deserves its legendary statues, and APTI does not fail to uphold it.