Consistent with my “I’m-a-parent-and-I-don’t-get-out-much” stage of life, I just recently saw Star Wars III, Revenge of the Sith for the first time. Here are a few thoughts and some questions about the movie. (Warning: if you haven’t seen the film yet, the following discussion contains spoilers.)
I loved this film’s special effects, and I also thought it did a great job of explaining and expanding on the Star Wars story arc. It is a bit unfortunate that some of the scenes are so intense — in particular, when Chancellor Palpatine fights Mace Windu and Palpatine’s face sort of melts; and when Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader fights Obi Wan Kenobi, leaving Skywalker / Vader thrashing in flames with no legs and one arm. These scenes take away some of the fun factor that is a key component of the earlier films. Nevertheless, the film overall is well done.
So here’s my central observation: this film in particular among the Star Wars movies is an apologetic for Buddhist thought. Palpatine tempts Anakin by suggesting knowledge of the Dark Side could help save Anakin’s secret wife, Padme, from death in childbirth (which Anakin has forseen). When Anakin is wrestling with whether to join Palpatine, Yoda advises him to “let go” of those who are close to him. Yoda here is the quintessental Buddhist: the spirituality he offers to Anakin is one in which enlightenment comes from severing all attachments to that which is temporal and material to become one with the universe (the “force”). Yoda tells Anakin that it is dangerous to maintain emotional attachments to others and that he should not grieve for those who die.
Now for my questions: if Yoda really believes what he is telling Anakin, why does Yoda nearly collapse near the end of the film when he senses that most of the Jedi are dying in ambushes set by Palpatine? Has he become improperly attached to the other Jedi? Why does he apparently grieve and respond emotionally if he is a Jedi Master? And why should he or Kenobi care about going into hiding in hopes that they might later defeat the Empire?
My second question is less philosphical. Why did Kenobi walk away from Anakin/Vader as Anakin/Vader lay burning and legless? Why didn’t Kenobi finish him off? Imagine all the horrors the galaxy would have been spared if Kenobi did his job, instead of allowing Palpatine to rescue Anakin/Vader and fit him with the black prosthesis we’ve come to know and love. In fact, imagine all the horrors the galaxy would have been spared if Kenobi hadn’t been so persistent about training Anakin in the first place (going back to when Anakin was a boy in Episode I). Kenobi shouldn’t take a place among the heroes in later episodes. He should do the honorable thing and commit the Jedi equivalent of hari kari.
One reply on “Star Wars III — Revenge of the Sith”
Dude, you’re working way too hard for it. 🙂 You’re trying to make sense out of the nonsensical. I mean, why does Palpatine single-handedly dispatch three Jedi-masters with no trouble at all, and then get his ass kicked by a fourth (Windu)?
From what I can tell, George Lucas isn’t a buddhist apologist; he’s a guy with a chopping-off-limbs fetish!
Sorry, but I hated this movie, finding it to be by far the worst of the six. Its story was nearly incoherent, its violence was gratuitous and unnecessary (did you really need to have Anakin/Darth mowing down children?) and the action sequences by and large lacked any decent flow.
This, at least, seems explainable: Because he was no longer perceived to be a threat. A Jedi does not (should not) kill someone who is defenseless. Although, from my Michael-Schiavo-allied point of view, killing him quickly certainly seemed to be the humane thing to do, as opposed to leaving him to die slowly.
I’m sure Ewan McGregor considered it after he saw the scripts and realized it was too late to get out of the contract. 🙂
My detailed review of the movie is here, sans spoliers.