Jennifer Doncan
Senior Inquiry Per.1/2
Movies Analysis #1 due November 8, 2010
Avatar
Written/Directed by James Cameron

Director, screenwriter, and producer - James Cameron – has created another blockbuster movie, Avatar, to add to his incredible list of phenomenal top-grossing films. Avatar is in the company of movies such as Terminator, Titanic, Aliens, and Spider-Man: all crowd-pleasing, award-winning, top-selling films written, produced, or directed by James Cameron. Avatar is based on a script Cameron first wrote in 1994 and is the first big budget action film to be shot in 3D, using revolutionary camera technology Cameron developed. This film earned over $1 billion in its first three weekends.

The story-line is simple and timely. In the year 2154, the fictional RDA Corporation (from earth) attempts to move the Na’vi, an alien race on the distant planet Pandora, off of their land to mine for a valuable mineral called unobtanium. RDA Corporation partners with earth mercenaries. These mercenaries are a back-up, in case the RDA Corporation science project - using avatars (Na’vi-human hybrids developed and managed by Grace Augustine/Sigourney Weaver) - fails to accomplish the task peacefully.

Na’vi are colorful blue-skinned humanoids, who live in harmony with nature and worship their mother earth goddess Eywa, embodied in huge, luscious trees. This action/science fiction/thriller narrative features Jake sully/Sam Worthington and Neytiri/Zoe Saldana. Jake, in his avatar body and with help from Neytiri, is eventually cured of “his insanity” of greed and fights with the Na’vi to save their land and way of life.

The message is antithetical to messages we see or experience around the world. Corporate greed seems unstoppable. A prayer to Eywa by Jake while attempting to save the Na’vi from RDA and mercenaries reminds me of situations on earth. “They have killed their mother; there is no green there.” This reference is to earth. “Now they are trying to kill ours.” This is what I most appreciate about the movie – the underdog wins!

Our news only throws shadows of the harm greedy corporations do for money. From the many deaths, a by-product of the still operable cigarette industry to oil spills off the coast of Florida and pollution of the meat industry, we see destruction of people and land.

Ruweng County in Sudan is a disaster that has not had the happy result for the indigenous people as did with the Na’vi. My acquaintance, Koch Dudi, fought in the Sudanese war that continues to take a toll on the people in Darfur and all areas of the Sudan according to Koch. His first hand story of fighting, being injured, spending years in a refugee camp and hospital in Kenya, and finally being allowed to come to the United States is one of several similar stories I’ve heard from Sudanese people who, like Koch, were victims. They suffered physically or emotionally, scarred by a war they tell me is about the oil that began in Ruweng County, Sudan.

American papers for years did not mention this story. This battle, according to Koch has been going on for over 20 years. George Clooney and other movie stars had the courage to bring the story of genocide to the world. Sudan’s president is allowing what is referred to as genocide for the wealth of a few. Clooney is still advocating for the Sudanese people. From the New York Post website, Clooney speaks to the news media on a video clip saying, “This is not a right or left issue as you well know. This is also the responsibility of the international community. We could use some of the European countries that are not being as tough on Khartom. You know he [President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan] isn’t spending his money in Sudanese pounds. It’s in euros; it’s in other forms. We need to find out where that money is and freeze it. There’s pressures we can put on the government …” (New York Post website

Avatar, because of its expansive views of Pandora throughout the movie, allows me to visualize what our earth once may have looked like without the bulldozing of fertile land for the profit of a few. Voice –overs, that tell a well known story mirroring the stories of thousands of indigenous people, gives me hope because the beginning of the story is what is familiar. But now I can visualize an ending that too has hope for the safety of land, people, cultures, and our own connections to earth.This is one of my favorite movies. I am rating it 10 of 10. Avatar seems to speak for silenced voices all over the world.

If you’d like to see the video, go to
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