A Passage to India

A very long movie depicting E.M. Forrester's book about the trial between a young English woman living in India and an Indian doctor who she claims to have molested her during a visit to a cave. This movie is centered around and constantly reminds us of the conflict between the British and Indian cultures. "East is east," says one British woman in the beginning of the movie, another time a bicycle nearly runs over to Indian men. However, in spite of these differences there seems to be a genuine connection between many of the Indian and British characters throughout the beginning of the move. Aziz reminisces kindly about how he imagines himself being part of his ancestor's time as they ride the elephant across the countryside at one point in an interesting monologue. Regardless, in light of what happened at the cave, which is somewhat unclear throughout the movie, these relationship immediately dissolve, the trial itself serves as a focal point for the elevation of this conflict. When the woman decides to withdraw her charge not only is she already distanced from the Indian locals, but those British who had been supporting her. Why she does this is unclear, but one character suggests it is simply out of pity for the doctor, because she knows he stands little chance as a Indian man in light of such allegations from a British woman. The Indian doctor immediately becomes a huge celebrity, representing to the Indians, a symbol of the triumph of Indian people over British persecution. Perhaps one of the most startling changes in the movie is the dynamic transformation of Aziz, this kindly, overly expressive, friendly and accommodating doctor, to a stoic nationalist that detests the British. The real strength of the movie however, lies in the fact that it never reveals whether in fact the woman had been molested or if she had, as Aziz puts it "just got a little too much sun." Whether or not that had happened truly, it allowed the British woman to be the cog that set the wheels in motion for an interesting film about racial and social disparity, and the oversights and weaknesses of British colonialism in India.