Ashutosh Gowariker, India, 20013.5 out of 4 stars
Unlike, say, Once Upon a Time in China, with which this film shares at least its English (sub)title, this is populist anti-Western colonialism done right! For one thing, having the villains actually be white goes a long way; Paul Blackthrone is an extremely effective "evil Englishman," and he actually speaks Hindi for a good chunk of his role! As a result, we get a real struggle, rather than an ultimately-meaningless proxy battle as we usually do in Tsui Hark's film. This is, however, no Gibsonesque exercise in Anglo-bashing, and everything comes out extremely balanced, perhaps too obviously so. He does, after all, have a sister that helps out the village people as they try to learn cricket and beat his wager. More importantly, untouchables and Muslims, despite earlier misgivings, are welcomed into the team, providing a heartening, inclusive vision of Indian resistance against the occupier.
What's nice about this film is that it is clearly a high-profile Bollywood picture with an eye towards crossover, but it is not so compromised that it becomes unrecognizable to anyone who is already somewhat familiar with Bollywood. I imagine this is one of the better "gateway drugs" for the genre, as the music is good and fits with the plot, and one rarely feels that the more-than-three-hour running time is needlessly padded. Sure, they could have made it shorter, but this is actually epic enough to deserve it.
Source: Sony DVD
13 September, 8:17 PM
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