“There are plenty of warriors that I know and love, people far more valuable than myself, who go to war each day, knowing in advance that they will fail. True, they are less ’successful’ in the most vulgar sense of the word, but by no means less fulfilled”, Arundhati Roy, “The End of Imagination”
History records that most of the wars fought to defend the nature from the encroachment of urbanization have been thwarted brutally. There are rare exceptions like the Silent Valley movement in Kerala. Today, the imbalance caused by those defeats have started to haunt the urban comfort zones too.
James Cameron’s “Avatar” brought all this to mind. As critics across the world have unanimously declared, it’s truly a visual spectacle. The versatile creator and the hundreds of technicians with him have created a wonderland that can herd viewers to the cinemas in hordes (or at least, can be marketed as an unmissable experience in cinema). The last time a film was marketed as an “ultimate theatrical experience” was “Titanic”, again from Cameron. “Avatar” with its scale can submerge many ‘Titanics’. Here it’s not just a ship and sea, but an entire planet with all its flora and fauna, that has been created. The storyline, as hinted, is about man’s insatiable greed for wealth and the resistance of the minority who are sacrificed as collateral damage. In that sense, comparisons with the Malayalam flick “Vietnam Colony” are not entirely baseless. But that doesn’t mar the charm of Avatar, because the theme is ever relevant. If the aim is to nitpick, one may point at the Hollywood war movie clichés, though dexterously woven into the movie without seeming jarring. Maybe even a Cameron cannot be an out and out maverick when $250Mn is at stake!
My first rendezvous with Cameron was on the fated ship. And it still surfaces in my top lists- as a well-crafted screenplay which despite being long, spend its time wisely in speaking without words. One thing lacking in “Avatar” is the gap between the lines, inviting viewers to read more. He literally leaves nothing to imagination. Every visual metaphor is explained verbosely, as if scared of viewers overlooking them! I am totally ignorant of the pre- Titanic Cameron and hence his style. But this film would have been better less wordy.
The saga of Cameron’s making of “Avatar” is as exciting as the movie itself- waiting with a finished script for more than a decade for the technology to catch up, pushing the envelope of available film making techniques to materialise his vision. One may argue that an Indian filmmaker wont be able to afford this luxury. But what is more significant is Cameron’s almost adamant decision as a creator to not be allayed by anything less than the cinema in his mind. And, I believe such a decision is far from just financial.
I am really curious to know whether Cameron really intended to project the ideas he has passionately and blatantly portrayed. If he did, I doubt how effectively it has trickled down to the hoi polloi. We are quite likely to get carried away by the kaleidoscopic images and breathtaking battle sequences, to find the film visually boggling and just skin-deep. For me, Avatar exemplifies the dark side of human history of industrial development, ruthless exploitation of earth’s resources and complete negligence to nature’s balance. What mankind failed to see is the invisible roots that bind us to our environment. While displacing people for development projects, authorities would have always found their sentimental pleas laugh worthy, like Selfridge or Colonel Quaritch. What they apparently don’t understand is that these people are part of an ecosystem where every element is essential to maintain the balance. They are stripped of their identity anywhere outside. Hence, despite being peaceable and introverted, they are forced to revolt, at times with arms. And their pain is enough material for many epic tragedies. I was constantly reminded of these during my sojourn in Pandora. But I doubt whether others share these feelings because I missed finding this dimension in any review. And, if Cameron’s aim was conveying these thoughts, he has ingloriously failed, considering the dollars and effort spent.
I am not sure whether “Avatar” will be one of those films which I would hold dear forever. I sincerely wish the bright colours of ‘Pandora’ won’t blind people from noticing the theme behind the film. Triumph of goodness is the convention in stories, no arguments. But does that mean reality has to be in stark contrast? Numerous “Na’vi- RDS Corporation” wars are being waged on a daily basis in many parts of the world- Niyamgiri in Orissa, Plachimada in Kerala, the Narmada valley- to name a few. Indigenes are robbed of their land and all the organic associations they have with it just because they sit on something lucrative for the mighty minority. But it’s unlikely that the powerless will be victorious in these. Because here, the strong is armed not with guns or bombs but air time and newspaper space. If the weak attempts to organise, he is labelled as a terrorist and hunted down. Yet he cannot stop his battle, because for him it’s for the ground beneath his feet, and the roots than run deep into it. For this very reason, I think that the queer beauty of the little arrows stuck in the mammoth bulldozer seen towards the start of the film will last long in my memory.
ഇതിന്റെ സംക്ഷിപ്ത മലയാളരൂപം ഇവിടെ കാണുക
This entry was posted
on Saturday, January 02, 2010
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