Avatar
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe SaldanaDirector: James Cameron
Year of Release: 2009
James Cameron set out to make a groundbreaking film that not only raised the bar for 3D filmmaking, but also married the technological breakthroughs to a rich and detailed world inhabited by characters and creatures that drove a great story. So often story and character development get sacrificed in the name awe-inspiring special effects. But Cameron has spent such a great amount of time filling in the details of this new world that I believed in the reality he created and could easily connect with the characters it spawned. This is a world that doesn’t exist but watching it I believed every moment. And the 3D effects were nothing short of brilliant. Pandora felt alive and amazing.
The film is set about 150 years in the future where a company has set up a mining operation on an alien planet named Pandora to get a rich element that will feed an energy-starved earth. The problem for the company is that Pandora has a rich and complex ecosystem that includes an indigenous population called the Na’vi. These people live in harmony with their environment as each plant and animal is connected and sustained by the balance maintained by Pandora. The human scientists discover that each tree is in fact literally connected to every other tree and that the planet functions like a living organism. The company disregards this in the name of obtaining their precious minerals and proceeds to destroy anything and everything getting in it’s way. Special avatars are created with organically grown Na’vi bodies that are operated through a mental connection to a human. Essentially the human “drives” the avatar like a possessed puppet, each avatar specifically grown for a specific human. Initially the avatars are used to try and bring about the cooperation of the Na’vi and put them at ease with the company. But due to the nature of the relationship between the Na’vi and Pandora, there is little the humans can offer besides being an intrusion and invasion.
However one marine name Jake manages to become a part of Na’vi society through his avatar. He finds that the life he leads in his avatar is the one he feels the most connected to and the one he chooses to dedicate himself to. The company initially uses Jake to get info on the Na’vi in preparation for an inevitable confrontation. But Jake realizes that he has found his home with the Na’vi and their displacement is wrong. He leads them in battle to defend Pandora and expel the invaders.
The messages in avatar are not subtle. The connection between the Na’vi and the Native Americans is strongly presented along with an anti-corporate/green message about the destruction of nature’s balance. The earth presented in the future has exhausted it’s resources and essentially been destroyed. And the invaders look to do it over and over on other worlds. But the messages of Avatar never seem cliche’d or generic. Like the characters and the planet, you feel a genuine connection to their struggles. You believe in what’s going on and can empathize. Cameron has really made sure that this is not just some video game come to life. In the world of Pandora, these are real people and there is a real battle to save their planet.
Stunning visual effects, great use of 3D technology, solid characters and story, Avatar is a must-see movie.
There has been an interesting discussion about Avatar that has come up. Check out this article to read more about it: Avatar: Condescending Racism or a Story of Transformation and Struggle?
