Review of Jinnah

Jinnah (1998)
8/10
A courageous human biopic that deserves to be seen...
2 November 2007
This is a high-quality biopic on the life of Jinnah, and an excellent film in general. It is a great character portrayal of a key figure in the history of the Indian subcontinent, and it peels away layers of Jinnah's life in the context of the events that shaped the independence struggle and the partition into India and Pakistan. The pace of the movie is unhurried and yet engaging; all the key actors have done a superb job of portraying their characters well and lent them credibility and depth. Lee, Fox, Kapoor, and Lintern were especially notable.

Being from India, I especially appreciated the opportunity to learn more about the life and persona of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, who no doubt was among the most important historic figures of the time that shaped the history of the two countries. I liked the form of the film where Jinnah is challenged and questioned on many of the events in his personal life and on his political ideology. I feel that the film does an honest job of addressing and delving into those issues from his perspective and taking the viewer on an intimate journey into his motivations.

The partition is a sensitive, politically charged, and often divisive issue for the people of India and Pakistan; the scars on either side are deep and not too distant. However, films like Jinnah and also Gandhi to some extent offer a critical glimpse into the human aspects of the leaders of those times and what made them Quaid-e-Azam or Mahatma for the people then and also for the generations that followed.
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