Avatar, The Movie.
John Winston
Subject: Avatar, The Movie. Feb. 9, 2010.
One of my friends said that he had seen the movie
Avatar in 3d and it was the best movie ever made.
I just went to see it, not in 3d and agree with
him. Yesterday I found out that the movie was
still being shown in Riverbank, Calif. in 3d. Here
is some information about it.
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avatar_files/Avatar.jpg
from the February 2010 Star Beacon
Stephen Simon of S-iritual Cinema Circle reviews
James Cameron's AVATAR MOVIE
ALERT: AVATAR
Landmark films literally change the face of the art
form itself and are rare indeed.
The Great Train Robbery, the first big hit silent
film; The Jazz Singer, the first talking film; The
Wizard of Oz, the first huge family film; Jaws, the
first summer blockbuster; Star Wars, the first
science fiction epic of the new technology era; and
now Avatar.
Avatar is simply unlike any other film ever made.
The experience of Avatar in 3D is a glimpse into
the potential of film to literally immerse the
viewer in the story. We actually materialize in the
onscreen world.
Even more amazingly, the sp-rituality of the story
of Avatar is on a par with its technology. We truly
aren't in Kansas anymore, Toto.
We're on Pandora.
Pandora is the distant planet on which Avatar plays
out. Humans have come to Pandora to mine the most
valuable mineral in the universe. Standing in their
way are the N'avi, Pandora's blue, 10-foot tall,
deeply spi-itual, indigenous race. To infiltrate
the N'avi, humans create biological Avatars of the
N'avi into whom the consciousness of human beings
can be transferred. The Avatars can then interact
with the N'avi, even though the N'avi can easily
detect the difference. One particular human Marine
is sent in as an Avatar and falls in love with a
N'avi, ultimately transforming both himself and the
world around him.
The spiri-ual metaphors of Avatar are truly
dazzling. Aren't all of us humans truly Avatars
spirit-al beings inhabiting human bodies that our
consciousness adopts as a temporary home while our
sp-rits e-olve? The N'avi are a deeply spiritu-l
race, fiercely devoted to family and their
environment, choosing mates for life, and
worshiping the beauty and power of their natural
world. We are all one is taken to its highest
zenith on Pandora. Not only are the N'avi connected
to each other, but also they have learned a way to
bond, both physically and spiritua-ly, with the
magical and glorious creatures of Pandora.
Furthermore, all of nature itself on Pandora is
connected in a very tangible and communicable way,
something that humans encounter in the denouement
of the film.
Nothing can prepare you for the visual and visceral
wonder of visiting Pandora in 3D. Fortunately, the
film uses none of the old and cheap 3D tricks of
scaring you out of your seat with arrows or bullets
coming straight at you. You just feel like reaching
out and touching the wonders of Pandora. The
genius behind Pandora is writer/director James
Cameron, whose last film, Titanic, became the
highest grossing film in history. As in Titanic,
Cameron gives us a magical love story in Avatar,
tender and fierce, loving and comical, challenging
and engrossing. Cameron has mastered a new 3D
technology that literally catapults us into a new
era of film wherein we as viewers truly inhabit a
whole new world.
Cameron also created the Terminator films and,
unfortunately, the final confrontation between the
N'avi and the marauding humans is quite violent, as
are some earlier sequences. For that reason, I do
want to warn those of you who are sensitive to
onscreen violence that Avatar very well might be a
bridge too far for you. Normally, my wife and I
feel the same way, but we were so immersed in the
drama and wonder of the story that we made it
through the violent scenes of the film, knowing
that the spi-ituality and goodness of the N'avi
would ultimately rule the day. (Not to be a
spoiler, it does). Still, I would be remiss in not
waving a caution flag about the violence in the
film. It's there and its significant.
The violence aside, Avatar has birthed a new method
of movie storytelling.
Some day, the technology of Avatar will be used
(sans violence) by filmmakers to take us much
further into the spirit-al journey of our s-uls.
Into the dreams we call illusion and the illusions
we call reality. Into the awe and wonder of this
majestic, mysterious, and mystical adventure that
we call life. Into a new world of Spiri-ual Cinema.
And we will look back and thank James Cameron for
bringing this new vision to us for the first time.
Avatar in 3D while it is still in theaters. You
just may want to be able to tell your children and
grandchildren that you were there when everything
changed.
Stephen
Simon
(JW So if you are in good physical shape, I
highly recommend this movie.)
John Winston. joh...@mlode.com