Analysis of the Film Passage of India

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“A Passage to India” is a film released in 1984; however, the film was set in the 1920s. The film shows India under the British Raj during a time of animosity and the Indians’ anti-imperialist attitude. Furthermore, the film displays themes of prejudice and India on its journey of becoming its own independent nation. “A Passage to India” has a powerful message of the racism in India during the time of the British Raj and the message shines through vivid imagery and a thrilling plot. A short synopsis of the film is two educated British women travel by boat to India. When they arrive in India one of the women, Adela, feels as if she is not experiencing the “real” India. Adela wants to meet and converse with the Indians, which many other British people did not wish to do. In addition, the film illustrates the obvious class difference between the British and the Indians in India. The British are dressed in beautiful, expensive clothing and participate in activities such as, afternoon tea served by the Indians. Moreover, the class difference is predominantly shown in the film; consequently, the two main female characters, Adela and Mrs. Moore are uneasy by it. Thus, unlike their other British counterparts they want to have interaction with the Indian people and want to learn about their culture. Additionally, another issue that is prevalent is, it shows how the Indians have to change their lifestyle to fit with the British rather than the British trying to fit into Indian culture whilst living in the Indians’ home country. This illustrates the lack of consideration the British had for India during the time. India was nothing more than just a colony to the British.
In addition, language was an essential theme. There was a scene in t...

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... about the way the Indians were treated, but to see a person desperate to prove his innocence because he was discriminated against for the fact that he was an Indian man show the horrible treatment of the Indians, visually. Furthermore, we learned about the tensions and the anger of the Indians and the crowd protesting was a great way to see the anger being portrayed through film. Overall, I had the opportunity to see what we learned in class through a well-made film and to see the determination of the Indian people. India had a very long journey to independence and through the course it was interesting to learn about the determination of the Indian people; moreover, sitting down and watching the film it showed me how impressive the Indian community was under the British Raj and I got the opportunity to admire the Indians’ perseverance under a hostile rule.

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