A larger-than-life passage on India

Press, 1 April 1985, Page 29

A larger-than-life passage on India

A PASSAGE TO INDIA Directed and written by David Lean It can only be because “A Passage to India” (Regent) was competing with so many other excellent films for last week’s Academy Awards that it managed to walk away with only two.

What chance, however, did any film have when it was up against “Amadeus,” which was awarded eight Oscars — and deserved most of them, particularly for best film.

There was no doubt in my mind, though, that Peggy Ashcroft thoroughly deserved her best supporting actress award for her portrayal of the stoical but very human Mrs Moore in “A Passage to India.” Her part required no dramatic fireworks; her kind and intelligent face and gentle manner expressing everything that was required for her role. This film is notable also as David Lean’s return to directing since the making of “Ryan’s Daughter” in 1970.

Now, at the age of 76, “A Passage to India” could well be the last work for this giant filmmaker, who has given us such classics as “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” “Lawrence of Arabia” and “Doctor Zhivago.” If for no other reason than that, I felt he would probably have been given this year’s best director award, as well as that for best screenplay adaptation of an extremely difficult novel. It is here that Lean shines, converting E. M. Forster’s dense prose into an equally literate film, faithful to the book in plot and intent, yet presenting it with a visual grace and scope that also manages to capture the metaphysical morass encountered in any serious study of India. Mrs Moore says early in

the film that she loves a mystery but detests a muddle, and this theme continues throughout the film, so that we realise the important question is not what happened in the Marabar caves, but that the mystery encompasses all of India — and the universe.

The plot itself is not very complicated — it is the unsettling questions that it engenders which give the film, and book, its lasting impact: Adela Quested (Judy Davis) arrives in India to marry her fiance, Ronny Heaslop (Nigel Havers), a staid young Englishman who is magistrate in the fictional city of Chandrapore. She is accompanied by Ronny’s mother, Mrs Moore. Chafing under the constraints of the British society and anxious to see “the real India,” she is delighted to be introduced to a young Indian doctor, Aziz (Victor Banerjee), by a liberal schoolteacher, Richard Fielding (James Fox). Although fascinated by Aziz, Adela fails to understand his motivation or her own feelings, and their awkward relationship provokes the enigma of the Marabar caves, foreseen by the Brahmin mystic, Professor Godbole (Alec Guinness).

As they investigate the caves, an incident occurs — or does it? — and in the ensuing tragedy of events, the young man is tried for attempted rape. It is both Mrs Moore and the elderly Godbole who have some presentiment of

the ill-fated picnic at the caves. These two hardly exchange a word, but through subtle signs and glances appear to be in silent communion and understanding about the significance of the incident. We are shown signs of the sexual awakening of Adela, and the accompanying panic it arouses, during a visit to a ruined temple where she discovers erotic carvings, only to be frightened away by wild monkeys. Aziz is a young man also bursting with various nervous energies. Through Lean’s all-en-compassing view, however, the question of whether or not he actually attempted to rape her eventually becomes only secondary to the bigger mysteries of India. Here again, Lean captures the moods and paradoxes of this incredible land. We are shown the contrasting richness and poverty, the splendour and squalor, the ridiculous attempts of the British raj to impose its ideas of order on a way of life that seems anarchical by comparison. Everything seems larger than life - the welcoming arch at Bombay harbour, the tiny train chugging across this vast sub-contin-ent, the Himalayas in the background, the mighty monolith of Marabar, even the moon waxing as the film goes along — all this can make the problems of humans seem truly petty. Here again, it is Mrs Moore and Godbole who manage to see the situation in the right perspective. Before departing for England and her death, she says: “Nothing I say or do will make the slightest difference.” Godbole states: “You can do what you like, but the outcome will be the same.” -

This may seem a defeatist attitude, reflecting influence of the Hindu belief in reincarnation, yet it still

makes for a vital people and film.

Complementing Peggy Ashcroft, all the other actors are also excellent. Judy Davis deserved her best actress nomination for her portrayal of the emotionally suppressed Adela; and James Fox, in one of his more sympathetic roles, was equally effective as the fair-minded Englishman.

It is Victor Banerjee, however, who should share the credit for superb acting with Ashcroft. His naive, impressionable young man, easy to delight or anger, fully fills the screen with his emotions.

Because of his fine performance, it is puzzling why Lean chose Alec Guinness instead of an Indian actor to play Godbole. Perhaps it was because the two had already worked together on “Great Expectations,” “Oliver Twist," “Bridge on the River Kwai,” “Lawrence of Arabia” and “Doctor Zhivago.”

For those interested in epic trivia, it is Lean’s reallife wife, Sandra Hotz, who plays Fielding’s wife at the end of the film. Sir David first met the future Lady Lean in India in the late 19605, when he was checking into a hotel owned by her parents. Also, that elephant who takes the picnickers to the Marabar caves was first used by one of the producers, Richard Goodwin, in the filming of “Harry Black and the Tiger,” which starred Stewart Granger, in the late 19505. Twenty-five years later, she was to play a much larger role in “A Passage to India.” Since the huge success of "Ghandi,” we have had a spate of other first-rate films set in India, including "Heat and Dust,” and the T.V. series, “Jewel in the Crown.” Another one that is awaiting screening at the Westend is “The Far Pavilions.”