I have to say I thought the movie was strangely moving. It’s certainly the most unremittingly dark of the movies. I wonder how much of my emotional response has to do with the fact that I have had a relationship with this movie-series for the majority of life. I was 10 years old in 1977. Star Wars<\/i> is one of the first movies I remember seeing in the movie theatre. You know? The whole thing is like an evocation of my childhood – so I’m not sure what’s what. And you know what? It just DOESN’T MATTER.<\/p>\n
Minor spoiler below<\/i><\/p>\n
\nFor example: the last shot of the film. Obi-Wan Kenobi arrives on Tatooine with the baby Luke to give to his aunt and uncle. (18 years later, Luke’s whining about “power converters” in the same dern sand igloo!) But anyway – it’s sunset, it’s the desert. Kenobi gets off this camel-type creature, and the aunt comes out of the igloo, with her arms open. Blah blah. She takes Luke, she joins her husband, they stare at the sunset, with smiles of hope.<\/p>\n
The end.<\/p>\n
It’s how it had to end. You know … it sets you up for the next film, the “new hope”.<\/p>\n
BUT. My main response to that scene was a RUSH of familiarity. I know that place! I know that stupid sand-igloo as though I had spent a summer vacation there myself! I know those weird metal things coming up out of the sand – randomly. I know that ridge over to the side of the house. It’s not even a real place, but it’s as known to me as some of my old childhood haunts – places I haven’t seen in 25 years.<\/p>\n
I felt really glad to see Tatooine. (Okay, I sound like a goofball. Either you forgive or you don’t. Whatever. I am not ashamed.) I did. I saw that damn sand planet, and felt: Oh my God. Tatooine …<\/p>\n
This is all tied up with … being a KID. With remembering summer vacations, and popsicles, and long car trips, and lying in the “wayback” of the station wagon, and chasing fireflies at dusk … Star Wars<\/i> is all tied up, for me, in those memories. It’s a part of me – and I had this emotional sense-memory thing happen when I saw that sand planet.<\/p>\n
And then … as Luke’s aunt goes to join the uncle on the ridge, holding the baby … you hear the hopeful phrasing of the Star Wars theme (not the dark Darth Vader theme, but the triumphant theme – you know the one I mean). But it wasn’t played with a blaze of trumpets, or anything like that – because, after all, the Republic has been momentarily crushed, the Jedis have gone into hiding, and Darth Vader is now Lord of the Empire. Things are pretty bleak. Why blast your hopeful trumpets about that? But there comes the theme anyway, a softer version, a bit melancholy … (John Williams is a genius. God.) We hadn’t heard that theme ONCE in the entirety of this black-pit of a movie, where everything pretty much just goes from bad to worse.<\/p>\n
But suddenly … there it was.<\/p>\n
And I felt this odd lump in my throat – and it had to do with 5 million different things … but mostly, it was just this strange almost physical response to that particular piece of music. It’s like … the anthem of my entire feckin’ childhood. Of an entire generation. Multiple generations.<\/p>\n
I guess (strangely enough) I didn’t really realize that until the last moment of Revenge of the Sith<\/i>, when I heard that theme start to play – only a bit chastened now, a bit soft … The time for triumph hasn’t come yet, now is the time for hibernation, for strength to grow in silence and darkness … waiting for the right time … A perfect way to lead in to “a new hope”.<\/p>\n
Anyway. I really liked it.<\/p>\n
The dialogue is cringingly painful (“Hold me like you did at Naboo”) – but whatever. I didn’t give a crap. I couldn’t take my eyes off the thing. I was riveted, every step of the way. And not just because of the effects – but because I was watching the transformation of that world, I was watching it turn into the frightened totalitarian desert that we saw at the beginning of Star Wars, Episode IV<\/i>. So. Lucas pulled it off, man.<\/p>\n
I do have some funny quibbling observations but I’ll save them for another time. Not in the mood right now. Just want to revel in what I just experirenced.<\/p>\n
Also, on a side note: Uhm – is it almost June? Because it’s FREEZING here. I walked home, struggling against the sleet on my face, shivering in my down wintter coat. Weird.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I have to say I thought the movie was strangely moving. It’s certainly the most unremittingly dark of the movies. I wonder how much of my emotional response has to do with the fact that I have had a relationship … Continue reading