Jinnah Details

Despite the politico-cultural implications this entails, Christopher Lee turns in a towering performance in this sincere tribute to Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. Set either side of the Partition of India, it's a necessarily episodic biopic. But the decision to use a Christmas Carol-like conceit to link the story (in which Lee tours key moments in his life with celestial scholar Shashi Kapoor) is a preposterous miscalculation. Yet, director Jamil Dehlavi co-wrote the factually impeccable screenplay with Cambridge academic Akbar Ahmed. With James Fox stiffly uncomprehending as Mountbatten, this is less effusive, but also less impressive than Gandhi.