A Passage to India [Blu-ray]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

A Passage to India, director David Lean's final film (for which he also received editing credit), breaks no new ground cinematically, but remains an exquisitely assembled harkback to such earlier Lean epics as Doctor Zhivago and Ryan's Daughter. Based on the novel by E. M. Forster, the film is set in colonial India in 1924. Adela Quested (Judy Davis), a sheltered, well-educated British woman, arrives in the town of Chandrapore, where she hopes to experience "the real India". Here she meets and befriends Dr. Aziz (Victor Banerjee), who, despite longstanding racial and social taboos, moves with relative ease and freedom amongst highborn British circles. Feeling comfortable with Adela, Aziz invites her to accompany him on a visit to the Marabar caves. Adela has previously exhibited bizarre, almost mystical behavior during other ventures into the Indian wilderness: this time, she emerges from the caves showing signs of injury and ill usage. To Aziz' horror, he is accused by Adela of raping her. Typically, the British ruling class rallies to Adela's defense, virtually convicting Aziz before the trial ever begins. Though he is eventually acquitted due to lack of evidence (in fact, director Lean never shows us what really happened), Aziz is ruined in the eyes of both the British and his own people-as is Adela. Woven into these proceedings is a subplot involving Adela's elderly travelling companion Mrs. Moore (Peggy Ashcroft), who through a series of plot twists too complex to describe here becomes a heroine of the Indian Independence movement. A Passage to India was nominated for several Academy Awards, scoring wins in the categories of Best Supporting Actress (Peggy Ashcroft) and Best Original Score (Maurice Jarre). A theatrical version of A Passage to India, written by Santha Rama Rau, was previously adapted for television by the BBC in the mid-1970s. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: ABC
• Number of Discs: 1
• Subtitle: Eng/Fre/Spa
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 (Vistavision)
• Features:
  • Blu-ray exclusive: "Beyond the Passage: Picture-in-Picture Tracks"
  • Commentary with producer Richard Goodwin
  • "E.M. Forster: Profile of an Author"
  • "An Epic Takes Shape"
  • "An Indian Affair"
  • "Only Connect: A Vision of India"
  • "Casting a Classic"
  • "David Lean: Shooting With the Master"
  • "Reflections of David Lean"

AWARDS

• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

•     Won Best Original Score - 1984 (Maurice Jarre)
•     Won Best Supporting Actress - 1984 (Peggy Ashcroft)
•     Nominated Best Actress - 1984 (Judy Davis)
•     Nominated Best Adapted Screenplay - 1984 (David Lean)
•     Nominated Best Art Direction - 1984 (Les Tomkins, Hugh Scaife, John Box)
•     Nominated Best Cinematography - 1984 (Ernest Day)
•     Nominated Best Costume Design - 1984 (Judy Moorcraft)
•     Nominated Best Director - 1984 (David Lean)
•     Nominated Best Editing - 1984 (David Lean)
•     Nominated Best Picture - 1984 (Richard Goodwin, Lord John Brabourne)
•     Nominated Best Sound - 1984 (Graham Hartstone, John Mitchell, Nicolas Le Messurier, Michael Carter)

• British Academy of Film and Television Arts

•     Won Best Actress - 1985 (Peggy Ashcroft)
•     Nominated Best Cinematography - 1985 (Ernest Day)
•     Nominated Best Costumes - 1985 (Judy Moorcraft)
•     Nominated Best Picture - 1985
•     Nominated Best Production Design - 1985 (John Box)
•     Nominated Best Score - 1985 (Maurice Jarre)
•     Nominated Best Supporting Actor - 1985 (James Fox)

• Directors Guild of America

•     Nominated Best Director - 1984 (David Lean)

• Hollywood Foreign Press Association

•     Won Best Foreign Film - 1984
•     Won Best Original Score - 1984 (Maurice Jarre)
•     Won Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Pic - 1984 (Peggy Ashcroft)
•     Nominated Best Director - 1984 (David Lean)
•     Nominated Best Screenplay - 1984 (David Lean)

• Los Angeles Film Critics Association

•     Won Best Supporting Actress - 1984 (Peggy Ashcroft)

• National Board of Review

•     Won Best Actor - 1984 (Victor Banerjee)
•     Won Best Actress - 1984 (Peggy Ashcroft)
•     Won Best Director - 1984 (David Lean)
•     Won Best Picture - 1984

• New York Film Critics Circle

•     Won Best Actress - 1984 (Peggy Ashcroft)
•     Won Best Director - 1984 (David Lean)
•     Won Best Picture - 1984

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Judy Davis - Adela Quested
       Victor Banerjee - Dr. Aziz
       Peggy Ashcroft - Mrs. Moore
       James Fox - Richard Fielding
       Alec Guinness - Godbole
       Nigel Havers - Ronny Heaslop
       Richard Wilson - Turton
       Antonia Pemberton - Mrs. Turton
       Michael Culver - McBryde
       Art Malik - Mahmoud Ali
       Saeed Jaffrey - Hamidullah
       Clive Swift - Maj. Callendar
       Ann Firbank - Mrs. Callendar
       Roshan Seth - Amritrao
       Sandra Hotz - Stella
       Dina Pathak - Begum Hamidullah
       Edward Fox
       Peter Hughes - P.& O. Manager
       Ishaq Bux - Selim
       Sally Kinghorn - Ingenue
       Mellan Mitchell - Indian Businessman
       Phyllis Bose - Mrs. Leslie
       Z.H. Khan - Dr. Pana Lal
       Moti Makan - Guide
       Rashid Karapiet - Mr. Das
       Mohammed Ashiq - Haq
       H.S. Krishnamurthy - Hassan

• Director:

  David Lean

• Producer:

  Lord John Brabourne, Richard Goodwin, John Heyman, David Lean

• Screenwriter:

  David Lean

• Book Author:

  E.M. Forster, Santha Rama Rau

• Play Author:

  Santha Rama Rau

• Cinematographer:

  Ernest Day

• Composer (Music Score):

  Maurice Jarre

• Editor:

  David Lean

• Production Designer:

  John Box

• Art Director:

  Les Tomkins, Herbert Westbrook, Ram Yedekar

• Set Designer:

  Hugh Scaife

• Costume Designer:

  Judy Moorcraft

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Michael Carter, John W. Mitchell, Nicolas Le Messurier, Graham Hartstone

• Makeup:

  Eric Allwright, Jill Carpenter

• Special Effects:

  Robin Browne

• First Assistant Director:

  Christopher Figg, Nick Laws

• Casting:

  Priscilla John

• Second Unit Camera:

  Robin Browne

• Music Editor:

  Robin Clarke

REVIEW:

• David Lean returned to the screen after a self-imposed absence of 14 years with this vivid, well-directed adaptation of the Forster classic. The director has slightly altered the focus of the novel, rendering its key event in a somewhat less ambiguous light, but, in general, stays faithful to its tale of clashing cultures. Lean perfectly captures Forster's satire of the smug insularity and poisonous racism of the British Raj of 1924, setting the myopia of its members against the exoticism and natural beauty of the subcontinent. Young Adela Quested (Judy Davis), something of a hothouse flower, is far more enlightened than her fellow Brits on matters of race, but also far more susceptible to such beauty, which induces in her a sort of subtly erotic fever. What actually transpired between she and the hospitable Dr. Aziz (Victor Banerjee) in the Marabar caves was left a mystery by the author, but Lean implies a fit of virginal hysteria on the part of Adela rather than any violation. This dilutes the complexity of Forster's novel, while reducing Aziz to the role of victim. Yet, as the tragedy gains momentum, the novelist's themes -- the destructiveness of colonialism, the unbridgeable differences between the two cultures, and the wisdom of the older civilization -- remain clear. Among a brilliant cast, Judy Davis seems particularly inspired, and Dame Peggy Ashcroft is memorable as well. The one glitch is the casting of Guinness as an unintentionally comic Godbole. Lean's characteristic visual splendor is nearly a forgone conclusion. ~ Michael Costello, Rovi