Plot: An Anglo-Indian woman is forced to assess her identity as Britain withdraws from her Indian colony.
The film-makers deserve a lot of blame for the deeply uneven nature of this film. Whilst the Technicolor drama is lurid, the crowd scenes are naturalistic, and some scenes (notably the rape-murder) are stylised. The result is a complete mess, not helped by Ava Gardener's grotesquely melodramatic acting. She always liked a dram, and it shows in her florid complexion. Thankfully, Stewart Granger adds a welcome calm and command when on screen. Also against this film are the white actors painted brown to look like Indians. I have no objections to the practice (English speaking Indian actors weren't easy to find in the 1950s) but in several cases the make-up is so bad that it is distracting. The Indian actors themselves are all very creditable, out- acting some of the 'noise and fury' European actors. What makes this film worth watching is the subject matter and the mature and complex way in which it is dealt with. Far too many films on racism are one-dimensional rants, but this, thanks to its source material in John Master's excellent and authoritative novel, is complex. Rather than simple black and white you have whites against Indians, Anglo-Indians against all, Communists against Congress, Hindu caste against caste, religion against religion. Everyone is implicated, but everyone is a human rather than a viewpoint. So the racist and snobbish Anglo-Indian lover who is obsessed with not letting the sun darken his complexion (still common in India where skin-lightening creams are much prized) also risks his life to save Indian peasants who are the darkest of the dark. Whilst the local Congress Party leader, a nice man who marshals locals in commendable passive resistance, still holds to the Hindu caste system which goes far beyond British colonial racism in terms of regarding others as inferiors and moderating social conduct accordingly. The end is a cross between the obvious (a happy ending for the lovers not present in the book) with a sombre grasp of reality, as everyone realises that there will always be differences between groups which can be bridged, but never abolished.
The film-makers deserve a lot of blame for the deeply uneven nature of this film. Whilst the Technicolor drama is lurid, the crowd scenes are naturalistic, and some scenes (notably the rape-murder) are stylised. The result is a complete mess, not helped by Ava Gardener's grotesquely melodramatic acting. She always liked a dram, and it shows in her florid complexion. Thankfully, Stewart Granger adds a welcome calm and command when on screen. Also against this film are the white actors painted brown to look like Indians. I have no objections to the practice (English speaking Indian actors weren't easy to find in the 1950s) but in several cases the make-up is so bad that it is distracting. The Indian actors themselves are all very creditable, out- acting some of the 'noise and fury' European actors. What makes this film worth watching is the subject matter and the mature and complex way in which it is dealt with. Far too many films on racism are one-dimensional rants, but this, thanks to its source material in John Master's excellent and authoritative novel, is complex. Rather than simple black and white you have whites against Indians, Anglo-Indians against all, Communists against Congress, Hindu caste against caste, religion against religion. Everyone is implicated, but everyone is a human rather than a viewpoint. So the racist and snobbish Anglo-Indian lover who is obsessed with not letting the sun darken his complexion (still common in India where skin-lightening creams are much prized) also risks his life to save Indian peasants who are the darkest of the dark. Whilst the local Congress Party leader, a nice man who marshals locals in commendable passive resistance, still holds to the Hindu caste system which goes far beyond British colonial racism in terms of regarding others as inferiors and moderating social conduct accordingly. The end is a cross between the obvious (a happy ending for the lovers not present in the book) with a sombre grasp of reality, as everyone realises that there will always be differences between groups which can be bridged, but never abolished.