Jinnah
1998
Christopher Lee portrays Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, in this biopic. Read more
| Starring | Christopher Lee, James Fox, Maria Aitken, Indira Varma |
|---|---|
| Director | Jamil Dehlavi |
| Genres | Drama |
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Jinnah
Christopher Lee portrays Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, in this biopic.
| Starring | Christopher Lee, James Fox, Maria Aitken, Indira Varma, Shashi Kapoor, Shireen Shah |
|---|---|
| Director | Jamil Dehlavi |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 50 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Drama |
| Released | DVD: 27 Sep 2004 Production year: 1998 |
| Format | DVD |
Jinnah (1998)
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Critics' reviews
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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.
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Most helpful member's review
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10 out of 13 people found this review helpful
Good film - far more interesting than Gandhi
If you found Gandhi a bit too 'holier than thou' to appreciate either the man or the film, then Jinnah is for you. Introverted, imperious and imperfectly trying to do what he thinks is best for his people, Lee's Jinnah comes across as far more human than Kingsley's Gandhi. In fact, I actually think it gives far more likely portrait of what key political players such as Gandhi was like. True, it does lack the epic sweep of 'Gandhi', and the modern framing device is irritation itself, but its not often that a film rewards the patient viewer with a truly intimate and unglorified view of the father of a nation.
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Most recent members' review
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1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
Worth checking out
This is worth seeing more for its subject matter than the technical and artistic quality of the film itself. Jinnah was rather unfairly treated in the film 'Gandhi' and it took a long time for someone to try and balance the record. That is what this film unevenly tries to do. It is a patchy attempt. It is disjointed and overly stylised and a lot of the dialogue isn't too convincing. Some of the acting is a little stilted, though that could be more to do with the script than the ability of the actors. This really is more of a South Asian history lesson than a piece of entertainment.
However, I found the dramatic conceit of the 'Muslim St Peter' and the celestial court room less irritating than some other reviewers. O.K., it's a rather strange stunt but other film makers have done stranger things and got away with it. Also, I liked most of the actors' performances (including Christopher Lee's of course) and enjoyed viewing a side of the South Asian Independence/partition story that hadn't previously been given the English language big screen treatment.
To sum up, this IS a flawed film, but deserves to be appreciated more than it currently is. -
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