Davis soon learns the English class system is in place in India as well, with the British exalted even above educated and successful Indians. Nonetheless, she desires to meet Indians and see the "true" India, hence a remote expedition with Dr. Aziz (Victor Banerjee), an eager to please Indian. The expedition proves a disaster, with Aziz put on trial for sexually assaulting Davis.
How others will see it. This big budget effort is less dramatic and smaller in scale than Lean's famous prior epics, Lawrence of Arabia, The Bridge on the River Kwai, and Doctor Zhivago. A Passage to India was his final film, and as it was a box office success, it was showered with Oscar nominations. The script is thoughtful, the casting is good, and the themes are interesting. It's difficult to imagine anyone who would dislike it, aside from those with overly short attention spans.
How I felt about it. The film's message will be of little interest to most viewers, who will concentrate on the well-organized story. But the foundation of the story is its message. The British caste rules India, and likes it that way. Rather than adapt to Indian culture, they prefer to turn Indians into Brits. They have them play polo and classical instruments, and train them in western occupations. But even the English-trained Indians are excluded from proper British society, out of racism rather than fear.
Newly arrived Brits, such as Davis and Ashcroft, recognize the social injustice, as does our white hero, Fielding (James Fox). The film sympathizes with the educated Indians, who seethe under the complacent and unreflective British colonial rule. The extreme is reached when the white prosecutor states as fact, "The darker races are attracted to the fairer, but not vice versa." Sure, in your Aryan dreams.
Much turmoil is caused by a largely political trial. Unwittingly, Davis represents England's virtue, pure and innocent, while Aziz is shoehorned into the role of Indian menace or martyr, depending upon which race you belong to. In truth, Davis and Aziz become naive pawns of British and Indian politicians, until Davis regains her senses and puts an end to the nonsense. Havers, a practical man, goes with the flow, while Fox risks his career and position to achieve justice. Professor Godbhole (Alec Guinness), a peace-abiding philosophist, doesn't bat an eye.
Aziz cannot see the forest for the trees, even after the glow of victory. Davis was never his enemy, which was in fact the British occupation itself. Davis was being used by the occupiers, much as Aziz was used by Indians independence leaders. Once their usefulness to the respective factions is past, the figures recede into obscurity. And Fox returns to England, unable to stomach his own nation's presumptive righteousness.