A Passage to India (1984)

Directed by David Lean. Starring Victor Banerjee, James Fox, Judy Davis, Peggy Ashcroft, Nigel Havers, Alec Guinness, Michael Culver, Clive Swift, Saeed Jaffry, Ann Firbank, Art Malik, Richard Wilson, Antonia Pemberton, Roshan Seth, Sandra Hotz. [PG]

Lavish, leisurely, and immaculately photogenic adaptation of E. M. Forster’s novel (as well as the Santha Rama Rau play made from the same work) is sometimes so indebted to its cinematic splendor that the drama turns inert, but after the slow (yet exquisitely visualized) first hour, the pace picks up and the full weight of its racial and imperialist themes emerges. Cultures collide in British Raj India when a criminal accusation is leveled at a friendly and accepting Indian doctor (Banerjee), souring the relationships he’d been developing with visiting Englishwomen Davis and Ashcroft and a local school administrator (Fox). The evocative atmosphere and lush settings have been even more scrupulously crafted than the performances, which are almost uniformly strong (though Guinness’ casting as a native Hindu scholar is more than a bit jarring, especially surrounded by so many other Indian actors). An unusually philosophical and humane epic, and the final film from director Lean after a long absence from filmmaking, his penultimate effort being 1970’s Ryan’s Daughter. Ashcroft’s performance and Maurice Jarre’s score both won Academy Awards.

82/100