A Passage to India

A great reviewer of films once wrote, “Great novels do not usually translate well to the screen.” I would amend that to “Great novels translate well to the screen about half the time,” though that statement doesn’t read quite as smoothly. I do, however, feel that half the time, when you get the right screenwriter and the right director, you can make a great novel soar on the screen. David Lean is his own screenwriter and director, and in both cases, he is at the top of his game translating E. M. Forster’s 1924 novel A Passage to India into a wonderfully epic and critically acclaimed feature film. 

This is David Lean, the director of The Bridge on the River Kwai, Doctor Zhivago, and Lawrence of Arabia, three highly acclaimed films that are just a drop in the water in his filmography, yet A Passage to India feels a bit different, not quite as epic in scope while at the same time tackling some rather difficult subjects to convey on screen. The central conflict of the second half of the movie, for instance, happens off-screen, which works fine on the written page but is very difficult to get right on film. In Lean’s hands, though, it is handled perfectly, giving away nothing. In the resolution, we are no more sure of what really happened than we were before. 

The film is divided into two distinct halves, with the first half setting the stage for the second half. British schoolmistress Adela Quested (Judy Davis) is traveling with Mrs. Moore (Peggy Ashcroft) to British-controlled India to meet her intended bridegroom, Ronny Heaslop (Nigel Havers), Mrs. Moore’s son from her first marriage. Ronny is the City magistrate in Chandrapore, and, despite some misgivings, Adela intends to make a go at being his wife. 

Upon arrival in Chandrapore, though, both women are disappointed to find that the British and the native Indian population are alienated, with the native people pushing for Indian independence. Both were hoping to experience more of the people, the culture, and the scenery of India. By chance, Mrs. Moore meets Indian Dr. Aziz Ahmed (Victor Banerjee), a local doctor and widower who is surprised by her kindness, respect for his culture, and lack of prejudice. Anxious to please her and her intended daughter-in-law, he offers to host an excursion to the local Marabar Caves with some help from his friends. The British local school superintendent, Richard Fielding (James Fox), a friend of Aziz, intends to go with them but misses the train taking them there and has to join them later. 

While at the caves, Adela and Aziz are away from the rest of the group for a short time and not long afterwards she comes running back, bloody and delirious. Upon examination, she points the finger at Aziz, implicating him for attempted rape. Aziz is arrested upon his return to Chandrapore, yet maintains his innocence. Yet, aside from Adela’s statement, there is no evidence against him. This sparks riots in the streets from the locals demanding his release and exoneration while the British parade him before a trial, intent to prosecute him. 

There are several factors at play in this story, not the least of which is the divide between the colonizing British and the native Indians. This was not a peaceful time between these people, and the attitudes on both sides are reflected here in the general populations. Ronny reflects this mentality which ultimately drives a wedge between them and convinces Adela that she should call off the engagement. It is telling that when Aziz first sees Mrs. Moore in the sacred grounds, he assumes that she is either ignorant or willfully ignoring the customs of his people. He is shocked to discover that neither is the case and that she has taken the necessary steps to respectfully be in that space. So few would have done that, and it endears him to her. 

Later, when he is being accused of sexual assault, he becomes jaded towards the British for his humiliation in court. This spills over into his friendship with Fielding, too. What’s ultimately surprising, though, is that we are never fully sure what did happen at those caves. The way David Lean shoots that moment is vague and intentionally confusing. Adela goes into a cave while Aziz steps aside to smoke a cigarette. We see her having some sort of panic attack, we see him looking into a cave entrance trying to find her, and the next moment she is running down a steep embankment, covered in blood from cactus needles, delirious. 

She signs an accusation against him, but we never see her doing this nor are we privy to what exactly is in that accusation. During the trial, she is visibly distraught and eventually recants her testimony, testifying under oath that he never entered the cave and is innocent of the attempted rape. Which story is the truth? The film never tells us that. We never see the interaction, if any, that happened in that cave, either. This open-ended resolution should be maddening, yet it isn’t. Likewise, Aziz’s exit from the courthouse, carried out by the native Indians, should be triumphant but is dampened by the haggard appearance of Adela who continues to look unwell long after this ordeal is ended.

This would ultimately be David Lean’s final film. He lived for another seven years before dying in the spring of 1991. Yet he hadn’t intended this to be his grand finale. Right up until the end, he had projects he was working on that ultimately never came to fruition. This was also his comeback after 14 years away from the director’s chair. It proved that he still had the ability and the eye for greatness. His only major misstep is in the casting of Alec Guinness. While Alec is playing his part with reverence, there is no getting around the fact that he is a white man playing a native Indian in blackface. Also, David Lean ultimately left much of the performance on the cutting room floor, which so offended Alec that he ended their friendship and never spoke to him again. 

There will never be another director like David Lean, nor is there likely to be another filmmaker who will have such an impressive run as he did from The Bridge on the River Kwai through to A Passage to India. These films were all epics as only he could make, and they all bear the distinct trademark he brings to his films. This was a man who knew how to make big, flashy productions, the type that rarely get made anymore. All but one of those films would be nominated for Best Picture over the years, with Lawrence of Arabia winning it all, cementing him as one of the greatest film directors of all time.

Academy Award Nominations:

Best Picture: John Brabourne and Richard Goodwin

Best Director: David Lean

Best Actress: Judy Davis

Best Supporting Actress: Peggy Ashcroft (won)

Best Screenplay - Based on Material from Another Medium: David Lean

Best Art Direction: John Box, Leslie Tomkins, and Hugh Scaife

Best Cinematography: Ernest Day

Best Costume Design: Judy Moorcroft

Best Film Editing: David Lean

Best Original Score: Maurice Jarre (won)

Best Sound: Graham V. Hartstone, Nicolas Le Messurier, Michael A. Carter, and John W. Mitchell

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Release Date: December 14, 1984

Running Time: 163 minutes

Rated PG

Starring: Peggy Ashcroft, Judy Davis, James Fox, Alec Guinness, Nigel Havers, and Victor Banerjee

Directed by: David Lean