Bavarian Brodcasting / BR (Bayrischer Rundfunk): on 13th/14th Oct at 11:25 pm – 02:00 am CET (23:25 – 02:00 Uhr)
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A Passage to India is a 1984 drama film written and directed by David Lean. The screenplay is based on the 1924 novel of the same title by E. M. Forster and the 1960 play by Santha Rama Rau that was inspired by the novel.
This was the final film of Lean’s career, and the first he had directed in 14 years. A Passage to Indiareceived eleven nominations at the Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director for Lean, and Best Actress for Judy Davis for her portrayal as Adela Quested. The movie won two awards.Peggy Ashcroft won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal as Mrs. Moore, making her, at 77, the oldest actress ever to win the award, and Maurice Jarre won his third award forBest Original Score.
The film is set in the 1920s during the period of growing influence of the Indian independence movement in the British Raj. Adela Quested (Judy Davis) and Mrs. Moore (Peggy Ashcroft) sail from England to India, where Ronny Heaslop (Nigel Havers), the older woman’s son and younger woman’s fiancé, is the magistrate in the provincial town of Chandrapore. Through school superintendent Richard Fielding (James Fox), the two visitors meet eccentric elderly Brahmin scholar Professor Godbole (Alec Guinness), and they befriend Dr. Aziz Ahmed (Victor Banerjee), an impoverished widower who initially meets Mrs. Moore in a moonlit mosque overlooking the Ganges River. Their sensitivity and unprejudiced attitude toward native Indians endears them to him. When Mrs. Moore and Adela express an interest in seeing the “real” India, as opposed to the Anglicised environment of cricket, polo, and afternoon tea the British expatriates created for themselves, Aziz offers to host an excursion to the remote Marabar Caves.
The outing goes reasonably well until the women begin exploring the caves with Aziz and his sizeable entourage. Mrs. Moore experiences an overwhelming sense of claustrophobia that forces her to return to the open air. She encourages Adela and Aziz to continue their exploration but suggests they take just one guide. The three set off for caves far from the rest of the group, and before entering, Aziz steps away to smoke a cigarette. He returns to find Adela has disappeared; shortly after he sees her running headlong down the hill, bloody and dishevelled. Upon their return to town, Aziz is jailed to await trial for attempted rape, and an uproar ensues between the Indians and the Colonials.
The case becomes a cause celebre among the British. When Mrs. Moore makes it clear that she firmly believes in Aziz’s innocence and will not testify against him, it is decided she should return to England. She subsequently suffers a fatal heart attack during the voyage and is buried at sea.
To the consternation of her fiancé and friends, Adela has a change of heart and clears Aziz in court. The Colonials are forced into an ignominious retreat while the Indians carry the exonerated man from the courtroom on their shoulders, cheering wildly. Fielding looks after Adela since she has no one else to turn to. In the aftermath, Miss Quested leaves India, while Dr. Aziz, feeling betrayed by his friend Fielding, abandons his Western attire, dons traditional dress, and withdraws from Anglo-Indian society, opening a clinic in Northern India, in Kashmir near the Himalayas. While he remains angry and bitter for years, he eventually reconciles with Fielding and writes to Adela to convey his thanks and forgiveness.
(Source: 10/2013 – Wikipedia.org)
… with English Subtitle.
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… in HD quality.
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