American Cinematographer - April 1985 - 90

The purpose served by
the windows and doors in the In¬
dians' houses is one of inter¬
ference. Light and dust invade
those houses, and are welcomed in
them. Dr. Aziz sits on the floor
with his best buddies to eat their
supper, and a large red cover is
flung off the spread of foods. The
sit strategically around their
meal, while in back of them, and
men

beyond

an open

waters

of the

door, the moving
Ganges River are
sending shadows into this room,
shadows that interrupt the set pat¬
tern, continuing the dance already

begun.
Ernest

Miss Quested and

Day (who had op¬
Zhivago, Law¬
rence of Arabia and
Ryan's
Daughter) has said that he used no

Fielding after the

filters and

trial.

sage to India. David Lean, who
also wrote the screenplay for the
film (adapting from E. M. Forster's
novel as well as the Santha Rama

erated

Dr. Aziz and Godbole
in Kashmir.

on

Doctor

no

diffusion

on

A Pas¬

Rau stage play that it inspired) has
told reporters that he shot it with
the images already edited in his
mind. As a result, much of the en¬
on the screen emerges
strongly, and registers with convic¬

ergy

tion

the conviction of intellect.
Most shots are let to take their
natural pace, and are unbutchered.
Most sequences have a very well
defined mix of perspectives. The
film is shot and put together mi¬
-

raculously without invention.
they want to call attention to an
important prop or gesture, Lean
and Day cut to it and shoot it ele¬
gantly. There is no rack-focusing
in this yarn, and no fuzziness or
blurriness to be spotted anywhere.
The hard shadows do

em¬

phasize the heat, making its weight
oppressive and at times unbear¬
able. But you do miss them when¬
the action moves to the
interiors of the clubs and houses
of the British. The interiors to the
Indians' houses, by contrast, are
ever

sparsely furnished, with floors
barely covered and walls left
largely unadorned. They are dwell¬
ings that abound with windows
and doors, however. Ernest

bounces soft

Day

oil-lamp-like light all

through these interiors, and bathes
the brown skin of their inhabitants
with a lovely sheen that invokes

sympathy.
In

early scene, Dr. Aziz
is tending to an older Indian pa¬
tient, who lies aching in her bed.
His hand examines

glow of light

American

Cinematographer

hers, and

a

seems to emanate

from where the doctor puts

his
healing touch, and reflects ofF the
shiny skin. Later in the movie, Dr.
Aziz

meets Mrs. Moore and tells
her that she has the kindest face of

any

English

woman

he's

ever met.

And from that moment on Peggy
Ashcroft's smooth, white skin

gains an equally glowing warm
light around it and her face shines
just a little more with an incandes¬
cence

88

an

also

April 1985

healing.

Even the compositions arc sym¬
metrical (except in a sweet final
shot of Dr. Aziz standing at the
side of the frame, witnessing his

good friend Mr. Fielding, drive off
with his wife into the tree-lined

distance). Lean is not known for
making subtle movies. If A Passage
to India is not
deeply felt, it is at
least vastly stimulating, in the way
great stories and fables are. (The
badly chosen, syrupy music score
by Maurice Jarre is the film's only
attempt at feeling, but it does
more damage than
good, alienat¬
ing the inherent dark humor in
of the images and the di¬

many

alogue, and romanticizing themes
like diluted lust and clash of man¬
ners, when it should be leaving
them alone.)
American Cinematographer - April 1985

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