Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

As a pre-teen and adolescent the best thing about the Star Wars trilogy was Harrison Ford’s Han Solo. He was the cynic in the midst of earnest intensity; the one who was ruled by his passions or his pocket and not by the enigmatic psychobabble that underscored ‘The Force’. And he was soooooo handsome.

In the battle of good versus evil there’s a need for a bit of comic relief. At least there is when you’re in a world of George Lucas’ making. In the Star Wars saga Lucas has conceived and contrived a grand epic with grand themes; love and hate, friendship and betrayal, freedom and slavery. Yet the smirk factor of exploring such themes against a backdrop of alien planets and peculiar life forms makes it all a little hard to swallow. Hence the need for characters like Solo.

The absence of a comic foil (Jar Jar Binks was not funny) and overly complex plots made the recent prequels almost unwatchable. In Revenge of the Sith, there isn’t much room for humour but at least the story has become more straightforward. It is the answer to a question; how does Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) become Darth Vader?

It’s because of love. After experiencing premonitions of wife Padme’s (Natalie Portman) death, Anakin seeks advice from the duplicitous Chancellor Palpatine. Palpatine – who is really Darth Sidius, a Sith Lord – explains that it is possible to escape death but only with Sith powers. Should Anakin risk his wife’s life and continue as a Jedi, pursuing goodness and justice or align himself with evil and save her? For Anakin it’s a no brainer.

His turmoil over death is reasonable but runs counter to Jedi philosophy. According to Jedi beliefs death is natural and should not be grieved. When a person dies they become part of the Force. It’s a belief that offers little comfort. In fact the core of Jedi philosophy contradicts human experience and our God-given emotions. Emotions are rarely as simple as Lucas would have us believe. Anger and hate, while more than acquaintances, are not identical. Hate can be issued in cold calculation and anger can emerge from purity and love.

The Force is all about using feelings to make judgements yet for a Jedi to be in control and master his powers he needs to eschew their pull. Perhaps if the Jedi Masters had used their brains as well as their hearts they would have figured out the villainous Darth Sidius was in their midst two movies ago.

While the Wachowski brothers have ratcheted the philosophising up a few notches in the Matrix films, Lucas has always enjoyed fusing major religions in his cosmological epics. There are usually a few allusions to Christianity however kooky the connection. A New Hope exalted the self-sacrifice of Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Return of the Jedi featured a moment akin to the transfiguration and The Phantom Menace had a virgin birth. Revenge of the Sith has its ‘chosen one’ who becomes evil and a bizarre reference to a Sith Lord who could ‘save others but could not save himself”. Is Lucas finally revealing his disdain for Christianity or is the connection between Christ and evil purely accidental?

Far superior to its two predecessors Revenge of the Sith is an exciting conclusion to the 28-year saga. Anakin and Padme’s love story is tragic but it’s also tragically evoked. The illicit lovers might as well be speaking Wookie so perplexing are their hackneyed confessions of love. George Lucas may be an expert at imagining universes but he is a novice when it comes to matters of the heart. Yet despite the dire dialogue and cheesy one-liners, this drama cements the significance of Star Wars and its creator in the history of cinema and modern western culture.

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