Nine Hours to Rama

A film which builds up to a climax is spoilt by some unconvincing performances, especially Harry Andrews' Indian Officer and Robert Morley. Despite this, the direction is reasonable and the film worth seeing as there seem so few films about this subject.

Nine Hours To Rama is the story of the Mahatma Gandhi's assassination in 1948. When I saw the film Gandhi with Ben Kingsley, I looked on the IMDb message board and someone asked if Gandhi was a fictional character. So in case you're not aware, he was the founder of the independence movement that led to the creation of India and Pakistan. He believed in nonviolent resistance, which got rid of the British, but the Muslims broke away and created Pakistan. War and conflict followed.

A Hindu, Nathuram Gotse, blamed Gandhi for conceding too much to the Muslim separatist leader, Mohammed Ali Jinnah. He wasn't alone.

The strongest performance in the film is that of J.S. Casshyap, who plays Gandhi - I actually felt like I was watching the great man himself. He did a fantastic job. Horst Buchholz, an incredibly handsome man who enjoyed a good career in America for a time, plays Gotse very well. As the police inspector, Jose Ferrer handled his role beautifully - he knows Gandhi is in danger, but Gandhi won't let him take any precautions or change his schedule.

This film was released less than a year after the Kennedy assassination. The film states it is a work of fiction, as it focuses on Gotse and his various involvements.

Though the work behind this film may have been admirable at the time and may have had good intentions, the result now is at best unspectacular and at worst insulting. Some intriguing titles by Saul Bass give way to a pretty pedestrian film. The story is torturously told...featuring the dreaded flashback approach and a gallery of clichéd characters and situations. The cast is a befuddling mixture of British, German, Puerto Rican, American and who knows what all else all shuffling around in dark contact lenses and "brownface" as they attempt to portray Indian people. They all adapt that hokey sing-song method of speaking which is an exaggerated and stereotypical version of how Indians relay the English language. It's worst sin is it's DULLNESS! From the man who would direct "Valley of the Dolls" and "Earthquake", one might have expected a touch more pizazz! The climactic assassination attempt is pretty tense and well handled, but getting there is no picnic.

NINE HOURS TO RAMA distinguishes itself in the category of "historical fiction." While remaining faithful to Stanley Wolpert's novel, it perfectly captures the political tension of post-independence India which led to the murder of Mahatma Gandhi on 30 January 1948.

Nelson Gidding's screenplay eliminates some of the clutter of the novel, limits the flashbacks to the background of the assassin, Nathuram Godse, and maintains a good pace through the painful climax. Director Mark Robson (THE HARDER THEY FALL, VON RYAN'S EXPRESS), with the help of cinematographer Arthur Ibbetson, makes good use of the diverse landscape and people of India. Robson's international leads portray Indians with intelligence and sensitivity, blending expertly with many Indian supporting actors.

In making the transition from an exuberant 18-year old to an embittered fanatic of 30-plus, Horst Buchholz delivers an intense, focused performance as Godse, the real-life killer. Don Borisenko is his partner Apte, plagued by doubt and fear, and straining to reconcile his fateful mission with the tenets of his Hindu faith. The biggest liberty taken with history is the addition of a sophisticated, married woman with whom Godse falls in love, played by the lovely, elegant Valerie Gearon.

Jose Ferrer is superb as the Delhi police inspector desperately trying to prevent the inevitable, but hamstrung by the target himself. His frustration is shared by Harry Andrews, unrecognizable as a Sikh general. Robert Morley is fabulous as the parliamentarian whose hard-headed politics clashes with Gandhi's idealism. The gorgeous Diane Baker plays a prostitute who provides Godse with some much-needed refuge.

By far, the most inspired piece of casting is that of a former teacher, J. S. Casshyap, as Mahatma Gandhi. (Yes, HE is Indian!) His scenes, however brief, are the most startling. His resemblance to the great leader -- face, body, and voice -- is nothing short of remarkable, even more so than Ben Kingsley in the second half of GANDHI. It is one of the many injustices of the film world, that Casshyap was never even nominated for an Oscar for "Best Supporting Actor."

Robson and his crew deserve high praise for their fidelity to the subject matter and the professionalism of its execution, from Saul Bass's chilling opening credits (showing the inner workings of a stopwatch) and Malcolm Arnold's magnificent score, through the costume and production design, all the way to the brilliantly staged and edited assassination sequence. The result is one of the most underrated films of the 1960's.

I am furious that this is not available on VHS or DVD; in fact it should be in the widescreen format! One can only hope that 20th Century Fox will someday rectify the situation.

Nine Hours To Rama tells the story of the assassination of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi the founder of the independence movement that led to the creation of India and Pakistan. Many Hindus feel that the latter is more like an unwanted step child that was a byproduct of the birth and thereby hangs a tale of confrontation that has lasted to this day.

Horst Bucholtz plays Nathuram Gotse who actually managed to get up close and personal in 1948 to slay a man many regard as a 20th century saint. Though Gandhi's creed of non-violent resistance worked in getting the British out it wasn't so successful in keeping the Moslem population from creating its own separate state of Pakistan. Those years marked one of the bloodiest conflicts of the last century as Moslems and Hindus both migrated under the guns of war to the boundaries of the new states. Gotse blamed Gandhi for conceding too much to the leader of the Moslem separatists Mohammed Ali Jinnah as did many.

Bucholtz does a good job in playing the fanatic, but personally I think the film is dominated by J.S. Casshyap who gives a remarkable portrayal of the Mahatma. You really do think you're seeing some old newsreel footage of Gandhi in his last years. The Mahatma was not going to compromise, not a bit. Note the frustration of Jose Ferrer as the dedicated police inspector who knows there's a real plot out there, but is helpless as Gandhi will not let him take the slightest kinds of precautions nor will Gandhi alter his schedule. And the scene where Congress Party politician Robert Morley is trying to wangle an endorsement from the Mahatma and Gandhi ever so gently turns him down is very amusing.

Ironic that Nine Hours to Rama came out the year of the assassination of our president in America. Like The Manchurian Candidate, Nine Hours to Rama was deep sixed for a while. If you get a chance to view it, don't pass it up. And definitely see it conjunction with Bhowani Junction and Ben Kingsley's remarkable Gandhi.