Memorable moments in some of the greatest movies (Gandhi) ...

Gandhi (OSCAR 1983, best picture and another 7 wins and 3 nominations):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083987/

Yet another greatest movies of all times. Not sure how many times I
have watched it, perhaps 14-15 times now. In India, they used to show
this movie (with hindi dubbings) on 2nd October, the birthday of the
Mahatma . Not sure what they do now. No matter how many times I see, it
never fails to amaze me. Its our history, our tradition. I remember
this movie as we, all Indians remember Gandhi - the father of our
nation. There are several touching heartbreaking moments in this movie.
I remember two. One, about the Jallianwalah Bagh massacre
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jallianwala_Bagh_massacre). Gen Dyer
opened fire on innocent men, women and children, without warning of any
sort. More than 1000 innocent people died on the spot. About the equal
number were injured. When faced infront of the inquiry committee, the
following exchanges remain memorable:

Government advocate: Could I ask you what provision you made for the
wounded?
Gen. Dyer: I was ready to help any who applied.
Government advocate: General, how does a child shot with a 303
Lee-Enfield "apply" for help?
Gen. Dyer: [silence]

For the records, when Dyer went back to England, he was honored and
applauded by the British civilians for what he did in India.

I also liked this exchange between the Brigadier and Gandhi after the
massacre:

Brigadier: You don't think we're just going to walk out of India!
Gandhi: Yes. In the end, you will walk out. Because 100,000 Englishmen
simply cannot control 350 million Indians, if those Indians refuse to
cooperate.

The second touching instance was after the Independence, during the
riots. A Hindu peasant comes to Gandhi and the following exchanges take
place. It remains one of the most touching moments in the movie:

Nahari: I'm going to Hell! I killed a child! I smashed his head against
a wall.
Gandhi: Why?
Nahari: Because they killed my son! The Muslims killed my son!
[indicates boy's height]
Gandhi: I know a way out of Hell. Find a child, a child whose mother and
father have been killed and raise him as your own.
[indicates same height]
Gandhi: Only be sure that he is a Muslim and that you raise him as one.

Its stunning to think that even 100 years after the incident where
Gandhi was thrown out of 1st class compartment in South Africa due to
racist laws, people are still fighting racism. Even in apparently the
most civilized nations of the world, like US movies like Crash (2004)
are made and they win Oscars. One day, humanity will realize that racism
only keeps us divided, breeds hatred among people. But it looks like it
not going to be soon anyway, perhaps not in our lifetimes.

The best one?

So ... I have been watching some of the best academy award winning movies over the past few weeks:

1. Titanic (1997, best picture)
2. Babel (2006, best picture)
3. A Beautiful Mind (2001, best picture)
4. Schindler's List (1993, best picture)
5. Shakespeare in Love (1998, best picture)
6. Sound of Music (1965, best picture)
7. Master and Commander, The Far Side of The World, (2003, best cinematography)
8. Silence of the Lambs (1991, best picture)
9. Finding Neverland (2004, Best Original score)

... and some other which I have already seen before. So, I wonder, if someone asks me which of these I liked most? It would be so difficult to choose .. like looking at different colors and knowing which one you liked most. But I would think, the movies based on non-fiction, like schinder's list or a beautiful mind are more appealing than those that we know are fantasy, non-fiction (like, for example Silence of the Lambs). Of course, almost all of these *non-fiction* movies tend to bend the reality (as the later's DVD version says : "while this picture is based on a true story, some of the characters have been composited or invented and a number of incidents fictionalized"). However, whereas Schindler's list made me cry, a beautiful mind left me speechless (I had already seen it before on TV when I was back in India, I think it touched me in a different way again when I saw it after all these years). Nevertheless, they all are wonderful monuments of art, beautiful pieces of work. They give you hope and courage, fill your heart with joy when you are in pain, makes you feel loved, relieves all your agony, pains after a while day's work. I really thank sincerely all those who were involved, directly or indirectly in making these wonderful movies so that we, the common people can tell ourselves that, world, after all, is a wonderful place to live in.

So much as I would hate to choose a single movie, if I were forced to choose one, I would choose Titanic. I believe its more dynamic than most of the others. Its both a tragedy and a comedy, it has both thrill and love, sex and grandeur. It has the element of truth and nonfiction yet much of it has been a wonderfully written fiction. So I would think that its the best disaster movie I have ever seen (and might ever see in my lifetime). So Titanic, remains in my mind as #1 of my all time favorite movies ...