Gandhi (Richard Attenborough, 1982)

I learned a lot and that's about the best I could say for this Wikipedia article masquerading as a blockbuster. So in the spirit of the film, I searched its Wikipedia page for dissenting voices and was struck by this trenchant comment from Makarand R. Paranjape: “Gandhi, though hagiographical, follows a mimetic style of film-making in which cinema, the visual image itself, is supposed to portray or reflect ‘reality.’” But a closer reading revealed that this was trotted out as a positive critique. Scare quotes won't make Attenborough's mimetic approach any less stillborn. The film is mere reportage and thus stylistically indistinguishable from other impersonal Oscar winners like Patton or Spotlight. 

Grade: B-minus