Wanted history, got pornography
I just wanted to voice my general discontent and disgust with this movie, as a warning for others like myself.
I have an interest in Mahatma Gandhi, and had just read that he was influenced by Tolstoy's book, "The Kingdom of God is Within You." I've never read any of Tolstoy's fiction works, but I thought this movie might afford some interesting historical insights into his later religious ideas. I should have known better.
It was little else than dressed up pornography.
From the moment the young assistant fumbled at the interview, where he confusedly said "I'm a vegetarian" and meant to say "I'm a celibate", it became clear that the makers of this film were going to disgrace an otherwise noble ideal. Which they went on to do.
This young man seems like he walks around with an invisible sign around his neck saying, "please, put me out of my misery", which shortly happens at the hands of a young lady who acts more like a man than he does.
As is usual for these kinds of dream-worlds that the movie-makers make millions spinning for people who love to dream false dreams, none of the dire results of wanton unbridled lust are shown. Instead, we are fed the idea that this sanctified lust is actually love, and all ends happily in the end. No sexual diseases, no unfaithfulness afterwards, no broken homes and families. Is this reality? If so, I must be living in another world.
The portrayal of Tolstoy's relationship with his wife, is little better. Constant bickering, fighting over money, foolish animal antics in the bedroom, self-pity, etc. One wonders why, even though humans are weak and make many mistakes, we delight so much in dwelling upon the negative aspects of people who strove to do great things?
Couldn't at least a few minutes have been devoted to how Tolstoy tried to help the poor, how he later found satisfaction in simple labor, how he strove to break out of the traditional religious mode and find something more alive and vital, how his ideas influenced other men such as Gandhi and Martin Luther King?
There is material in his life that would have been worth considering and watching. Then why does this movie portray none of that, except to make fun of it, and instead sell us the old, old story that lust is the way to happiness? It's simply pornography in a dignified dress...but underneath, the same old lie that we humans are infatuated with.
These words from Gandhi put the idea of celibacy in an entirely different light, and he lived out these principles to a noble end:
"The ideal Brahmachari has not to struggle with sensual desire or desire for procreation ; .. never troubles him at all. The whole world will be to him one vast family, he will centre all his ambition in relieving the misery of mankind and the desire for procreation will be to him as gall and wormwood. He who has realised the misery of mankind in all its magnitude will never be stirred by passion. He will instinctively know the fountain of strength in him, and he will ever persevere to keep it undefined. His humble strength will command respect of the world, and he will wield an influence greater than that of the sceptred monarch.
"But I am told that this is an impossible ideal, that I do not take count of the natural attraction between man and woman. I refuse to believe that the sensual affinity referred to here can be at all regarded as natural; in that case the deluge would soon be over us. The natural affinity between man and woman is the attraction between brother and sister, mother and son or father and daughter. It is that natural attraction that sustains the world. I should find
it impossible to live, much less carry on my work, if I did not regard the whole of womankind as sisters, daughters or mothers. If I looked at them with lustful eyes, it would be the surest way to perdition."
"Procreation is a natural phenomenon indeed, but within specific limits. A transgression of those limits imperils womankind, emasculates the race, induces disease, puts a premium on vice, and makes the world ungodly. A man in the grip of the sensual desire is a man without moorings. If such a one were to guide society, to flood it with his writings and men were to be swayed by them, where would society be ? And yet we have the very thing happening to-day. Supposing a moth whirling round a light were to record the moments of its fleeting joy and we were to imitate it regarding it as an exemplar, where would we be ? No, I must declare with all the power I can command that sensual attraction even between husband and wife is unnatural. Marriage is meant to cleanse the hearts of the couple of sordid passions and take them nearer to God. Lustless love between husband and wife is not impossible. Man is not a brute. He has risen to a higher state after countless births in brute creation. He is born to stand, not to walk on all fours or crawl. Bestiality is as far removed from manhood as matter from spirit." - Teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, p.44, 45