Wonderfully offbeat film!

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

The British colonial authorities use a contrived incident to stage a show trial to prove Indian inferiority and thereby further justify Britain's continued colonial occupation of India. Through clever directing, this movie appeals to the audience's sense of outrage at the British who are impervious to the loud and widespread demands that they leave India. The tension between the Indians and English soon becomes apparent. it is this tension that becomes the basis for the drama that unfolds. A young woman arrives in India and confronted by her own sexuality has a mental breakdown and accuses her companion, an Indian physician, of attempted rape. This allegation further widens the rift between the Indians and the British, and intensifies calls for the British to leave. This in turn makes the British even more determined to put the doctor on trial and get a conviction. The Indian defense counsel considered the trial a sham, protests get louder, yet the British continue undaunted. This sets the stage for even more dramatics, which will not be discussed here. To find out the exciting conclusion to this story, and how tensions,, get resolved, watch the movie. This movie is a great work of art.

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

1984's "A Passage to India" is a visually stunning film and a haunting story of the clash of two cultures. Based on E.M. Forster's novel, it takes place in late '20s India, under British rule. Two British women, Mrs. Moore (Dame Peggy Ashcroft) and Adela Quested (Judy Davis), travel there, Mrs. Moore to see her magistrate son (Nigel Havers), who is engaged to Adela.They want to see the country and meet the Indian people and are frankly surprised that there isn't more mixing of the cultures and people. One night, while visiting a mosque, Mrs. Moore meets the friendly, westernized Dr. Aziz. He invites her and Adela on an outing to the Malabar caves. While there, an incident occurs which becomes a cause celebre and divides the already divided British and Indian cultures.David Lean's film is fascinating on many levels: The breathtaking way he captures the atmosphere of India as well as the period, the magnificent cinematography, and the examination of the beliefs and mores of the time.Judy Davis gives a brilliant performance as the sexually-repressed Adela, who becomes frightened of her awakening feelings just as she vacillates about her coming marriage. She is matched by Victor Banerjee as Dr. Aziz, an attractive, friendly man whose life becomes a nightmare. Peggy Ashcroft gives a beautiful performance as the evolved Mrs. Moore. James Fox and Alec Guinness (in a role which was largely cut) round out the excellent cast.David Lean was one of the world's greatest filmmakers, capable of sweeping epics like Lawrence of Arabia and intimate stories such as Brief Encounter. He has inspired filmmakers such as Steven Spielberg, and his reputation as a true artist is richly deserved. Known for his acute sense of time and place, A Passage to India is another example of his talent and will not disappoint.

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.