Martin scorsese brief biography of mahatma gandhi

- By Raymond F. Comeau*

Gandhi was successful in much that he attempted because he possessed exceptional leadership qualities. This is the point of view I take when we study Richard Attenborough's award-winning 1982 film, Gandhi, in my Harvard University Extension School management course, "Case Studies in Leadership through Literature and Film."

The course itself is also exceptional in that it is rare to study the liberal arts in a management curriculum, where you would expect courses such as marketing management, operations management, accounting and finance. As the syllabus states, "This course is based on the premise that case studies using the creative vehicles of literature and film can help managers understand the modern complexities of leadership." The literary works we study span the gamut from the classical – Antigone by Sophocles and Julius Caesar by Shakespeare – to 20th-century works, such as In the Penal Colony by Franz Kafka and Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. In addition to Attenborough's Gandhi, the films we study include Masayuki Suo's Shall we Dance? and two directed by Martin Scorsese, The Age of Innocence and Aviator.

So what are some of Gandhi's leadership qualities that my students and I have identified on the basis of Attenbor

•