Gandhi

This epic biography, charting the life of Mahatma Gandhi from a simple lawyer to a worldwide symbol of peace and understanding, won eight Academy Awards, including best director and best picture.
As the story begins Gandhi is a London-educated Indian lawyer in South Africa who is booted off a train for refusing to ride second-class. Fed up with the unjust political system, he joins the Indian Congress Party, which encourages social change through passive resistance. When his "subversive" activities land him in jail, masses of low-skilled workers strike to support his non-violent yet revolutionary position. As he gradually perfects his strategy, his non-violent demonstrations eventually bring Premier Jan Smuts to grant rights to the Indian population.
Back in India, Gandhi renounces the Western way of life and struggles to organize Indian labour against British colonialism. When many British soldiers are killed in a strike, the crown responds by slaughtering 1,500 Indians. Enraged, the ascetic, spiritual leader continues to preach pacifism to lead India out from under the tyranny of British imperialism.