Sunday, February 21, 2010

Success!

All I had to do was issue myself an ultimatum... and Voila! I FINALLY saw "Avatar" today.

I wouldn't dub this my favorite movie of all time, but I definitely loved it. I took everyone's recommendation and saw it in 3D... and it was so gorgeous to watch. I was breathless as he flew through Pandora... wishing I could fly like that, or at least vividly dream of it.

At a couple of moments during the film, I found myself harkening back to Titanic, when strains of the Avatar's score echoed the earlier film and when I realized that the hero in Avatar was named Jake while Titanic's hero was Jack.

However, once the movie really got going, I couldn't help but get lost in the story and feel frustrated at its accurate portrayal of those in power who feel that every gift of nature is there for the strongest's taking... that peace is second in line to making money... and that those who use force to 'keep peace' are only doing what they feel is right. Will there ever be an answer or resolution to the quandry of two sides to the same coin?

In other themes, the film does work to inspire reconnection to nature and reconnection to faith in something bigger than ourselves... an energy, an awareness that connects us all. In fact, my favorite image from the movie was the one in which Jake was accepted into the clan, and the first Na'vi laid their hands on him, and then others laid their hands on them and so on and so on until every member of the tribe formed one big interconnected chain. I was also moved by the fact that their greeting, their highest form of respect, was to tell one another "I see you."

Being seen and being heard reminds us all that we are connected, loved and important.

1 comment:

  1. While I thought Avatar was visually appealing, I found the story tiresome. I've seen Dances with Wolves. Not that I did so, but if someone had asked me, prior to my seeing the film, to guess at how the plot would unfold and turn out, I would have gotten 100% on that test. There were absolutely no surprises. Will we never get tired of "white guys oppress group X, group Xis powerless to resist white guys until one white guy goes native and leads group X to victory." Yay, the 'White Messiah' lives!

    Anyway, I sort of liked the movie, but to me, it is not Oscar worthy. It was just ok.

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