12/25/2009

Avatar : A Dreamwalk

It is difficult to remember when awake, what you have seen in a dream. Dreams used to be like some animated movies having a mix of realist images with distorted, in multi layered, extra colourful backgrounds and sometimes abstract shapes doing wonderful, weird acts. That's how my dreams have been, and I believe it is so for others too. And why am I talking about dreams here?

Because when I watched the movie "Avatar" on last Wednesday night, I felt like I was caught up inside a dream. Listen for our paraplegic protagonist Jack Sully's voice over in the begining : he had dreamt that he would fly one day.

A must watch - classic movie - with unimaginable visuals and computer graphics. The 3D boosts the scenes with an enhanced appeal to the visuals - feels like you are in the forest, where the leaves and fluorescent creatures float around you! Yes, a must watch (in theatre ; that ambience is very much required).

Hollywood hits have always been well-known for their technical perfection. But this one is not just about that; I felt it has a philosophical edge too.

You get so involved with the Na`vis, their culture, beliefs, bonding with nature around them and their respect for life. Look at mantra's the sing even when they were forced to kill animals - when attacked! These things are taken in cleverly from our own earthly life, from our own culture, for an example I could say - from the very old inhabitants, the native tribes. It shows how devastating can a intrusion be to the indigenous people. Isn't this a criticism towards colonisation, and exploitation of natural resources?

The movie has a mix of all obvious, familiar ingredients; but is it putting forward a socio political message - of the need to have a "real" green life? Is it pointing finger at the militarism and the greed of over-industrialism?

Personally, the idea of "bio-botanical neural network" spread over all the living organisms from trees to brains - appeared really fascinating to me! Look at the massive attack launched against humans by Pandora's wildlife. Imagine if such a attack happens on Earth - haven't we scored enough to deserve it :-) !!

Okay, that's it for now! Signing off!

14 comments:

Vimal Chandran said...

The movie has a mix of all obvious, familiar ingredients; but is it putting forward a socio political message - of the need to have a "real" green life?

AGREED! thats y avatar stands out from the typical Hollywood graphics movies

b!nu said...

i second that...the movie draws out go-green message in a dramatic way.

"its better to live as a navi than being a paraplegic human" - thats what Worthington does in the last few frames.

could see a couple of sequences/ideas similar to matrix.

Unknown said...

Interesting . .Cant wait to watch it ...

Joga Bonito! said...

+1 AG. Finally u dare to write something other than your so called hero's movie:-). Cameron subsumed several relevant social messages like the need green way of life, Iraq war effects etc. So many messages to the US govt to ponder over. Hats of to the sparkling animation.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Satheesh Kurup said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Satheesh Kurup said...

Yes.. really great... & saw once and wanna see once more ..

Revenue as of now is 1.2 billion USD

Wiki -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar_(2009_film)

Roby said...

I couldn't stand it for 2:45 Hrs continuously. So I slept in between for about 15 minutes. Some explosions on screen woke me up.

അനൂപ് :: anoop said...

Thank you all, for the comments. And Roby,you are surprising me again! :) I know you will definitely have a new perspective, you could elaborate.

Honestly, I found it more enjoyable may be because of anti-invasion or green sot of ideas that this movie puts forward. It doesnt concentrate on just the human-scape (if I can call it) but focus on the power of 'nature'..!

Doesnt the movie remind us about the fight back of red indian tribes, or by indian tribes during colonisation? Could be wild thought.. but I would like to take it that way.

അനൂപ് :: anoop said...

Just now saw this on twitter! Amazing similarity in the story lines.. !

http://twitpic.com/wt1lk

Wiki : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocahontas_(1995_film)

Roby said...

Avatar is a classic scenario we've seen many times in hollywood films like Dances With Wolves, Dune, The Last Samurai where a white guy manages to get himself accepted into a closed society of colored people and eventually becomes its saviour.

The so called 'white guilt' on screen.

it's not just a wish to join the side of moral justice in a battle. It's a wish to lead people of color from the inside rather than from the (oppressive, white) outside.

If you are to apply logic into what you see, this film is just a bundle of blunders.

Krishna said...

Hats off to James Cameron. His imagination is commendable in every single scene in the movie. Great effort! The IMAX 3D experience was even better...

Bobby said...

അളിയാ ,
മഹാനായ അനൂപ്‌ ഇസ്മൈല്‍ പറയുന്നത് അവതാര്‍ മോഹന്‍ലാലിന്‍റെ വിയറ്റ്നാം കോളനിയുടെ റീ മൈക്ക് ആണെന്ന് ....സത്യം തന്നെ ? ഞാനും കണ്ടു ത്രീ ഡി ഐ മാക്സില്‍ ....ജെയിംസ്‌ കമുകറ കലക്കി !! നമ്മുടെ നാടന്‍ സിനിമകളും ഇന്റര്‍നാഷണല്‍ സിനിമകളും തമ്മിലുള്ള അന്തരം ഭയങ്കരം തന്നെ ...വിനയന്റെ ഇന്ക്രെടിബിള്‍ ഹള്‍ക്ക് ഒന്ന് ഓര്‍ത്തു നോക്ക് :-)

വീണ്ടും പോസ്ടുക്ക എന്തെങ്കിലും ..
സസ്നേഹം ബോബി

Unknown said...

Truely a thought provoking movie- I must admit. A movie with a message and stunning visual effects, really don't have a clue whether it was graphics or reality that came up on screen. We have an implicit message from the director- Live and let live!