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“Titanic”
director James Cameron threw elements from a few CGI animated sci-fi/
fantasy/action films into “Avatar,” his latest multi-million-dollar
vehicle. The result is a scenic delight. Moreover, it’s obvious from
the start that Cameron meant for “Avatar” to speak against U.S. exploitation of indigenous
peoples and their lands for their natural resources. His anti-military
viewpoint is also evident throughout.
It’s
2154, and the Earth has been destroyed due to excessive consumption,
climate change, and disease. But even without a home planet, the U.S. military is still in
operation in space. On the moon Pandora, the U.S. discovers a needed mineral.
A space station hovers over Pandora, replete with scientists conducting
experiments, headed by cigarette-smoking Grace, played by Signoury Weaver, and Parker Selfridge
(Giovanni Ribisi), a fanatical project
manager.
The
mining and exploration of Pandora is backed by the military—in this
case Marines and paramilitary—with all their gun-bearing spaceships.
Steven Lang is the top military operations commander, Colonel Miles Quaritch, who refers to his men as “meat.”
We
see shots of huge mining operations taking place on Pandora, with
workers wearing oxygen masks, on a scale of destruction actually seen
in coal and iron ore mining in the U.S. today. Monstrous dump
trucks with wheels the size of 10-story buildings rumble down
sliced-off mountaintops, on barren terraced areas.
There’s
no oxygen on Pandora, so in order to explore, scope out the situation,
and befriend the beautiful, blue, 10-foot-tall, dreadlock-wearing Na’vi natives, human scouts must become Na’vi avatars. Transforming into an avatar is
accomplished by climbing into a cyro tank,
which is hooked up to lots of wires and tubes to another tank
containing a Na’vi body; once your human DNA
is mixed with Na’vi, you then control it with
your thoughts, while you remain in the tank. Your avatar is then
transported to Pandora. If things start to go wrong, a scientist can
just push a red “kill” button to wake you up.
Sam
Worthington plays Jake Sully, a Marine who has lost his legs in the
latest war.† His brother had been killed in
action and he wants to do right by him, so signs up to become an
avatar. Someone jokes, as he rolls in on his wheelchair, “Oh, boy,
meals on wheels.” He is told that they are on Pandora to “win [the
natives’] hearts and minds” and convince them that we mean them no
harm, words that could have come directly from the mouth of Generals Petreus, McChrystal, and
the top military brass before them.
Once
on Pandora, Grace and her assistant, Norm (Joel Moore), as avatars
themselves, guide avatar Jake through a colorful jungle wonderland of
strange plants and animals. Jake, making full use of his new legs and
body, takes off on his own and disappears. Night is falling. Concerned,
Grace and Norm decide to leave him there. Here’s where I sensed a plot
loophole: Couldn’t they have told someone on the space station to push
the red button? But no, if Jake is worth his salt, he’ll be fine and
Cameron’s story will move forward.
In
a dramatic scene, Jake meets a female Na’vi
(who looks like a blue Angelina Jolie), Neyriti (Zoe Saldana).
She brings him home to tribal leaders, Mom and Dad (Wes Studi: immediately recognizable voice). Their ways
are similar to those of Native Americans and other indigenous peoples
who’ve lived off the land for centuries and feel a deep spiritual
connection with their land and all living beings.
Jake
soon comes to think that the Na’vi world is
the true world and his world is built on lies. He begins questioning Selfridge’s and Quaritch’s
motives; he is derided for “going native” because he got a “piece of Na’vi tail.” Still, Jake is a Marine and must do
what he was trained to do—until . . .
An
ancestral, spiritual, tree of life is threatened as it sits on the
largest deposit of the mineral. Jake has failed to convince the Na’vi to move to another site, so Quaritch barks his orders. Jake, as his avatar, the
Na’vi and all the mythical beasts and birds
of the jungle retaliate, including dragons piloted by Na’vi. When Chacon in her airship sees she is
killing innocent people, she echoes what many American soldiers who
have served recently in Iraq and Afghanistan have said, openly, “This is
not what I signed up for.”
This
is a film with strong pro-environment, antiwar, and anti-imperialism
messages that I trust will not be lost on audiences who went to see it
for its gorgeous animation; imaginative, sci-fi story; its
inventiveness, and its out-of-this-world (no pun intended) 3D effects.
Try to see it in an IMAX theater.
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