I have to admit that I have already seen Avatar twice. Yup – and I have to say I haven’t seen a movie like this one in a long time. Not for the special effects alone – but for the combined experience of the digital splendor along with the intensely spiritual message. Of course there is good versus evil – that’s the basis of any good mythological story. But in this movie we can see how deeply spirituality has crept into the general dream of the planet. And that is encouraging to me.
Many folks have said that Avatar is just a re-write of Dances With Wolves. Certainly this story has been told before – an outsider joins the natives, marries into their culture and adapts it over their own. But this story goes beyond that – it delves into the heart of the oneness of all life and all living beings. For example, my favorite ability the N’avi possess is their way of merging with the earth, animals and their Goddess Eywa though a neural interface. They don’t see themselves as separate from the earth – they make deep and powerful connections – something our modern lives are often short of.
Here our hero Jake Sully gets sent to the planet Pandora to try to get to know the people so that they can be exploited without resistance (the people from Earth want to mine Unobtanium (ha!) from the planet destroying it in the process). There is so much symbology in this movie you have to see it twice just to be able to take it all in. The way Jake interacts with the natives is through a genetically engineered body known as an avatar. Isn’t it true that each one of us is existing in our own avatar/human body and just as Jake Sully is not his avatar, neither are we.
The Wikipedia states: In Hinduism, Avatar or Avatāra (Devanagari अवतार, Sanskrit for “descent” [viz., from heaven to earth]) refers to a deliberate descent of a deity from heaven to earth, and is mostly translated into English as “incarnation”, but more accurately as “appearance” or “manifestation.”
Truly we’re all spiritual beings having a human experience. It’s even lovely how the N’avi greet one another – they say Oel ngati kameie – I see you. How nice it would be if people honored each other that way, an intergalactic version of Namaste! There are statements about ecology, war, imperialism, prejudice, love, relationship and so much more in this intense film.
The 3D effects simply blow the mind and the idea that they created a complete language for the movie is fantastic – something that I, a die-hard Trekkie loved about that series. Truly James Cameron created and entire universe, one that is waiting for you to explore! I hope you enjoy the movie trailer on this page and let me know what you thought of the movie by posting below!
It was awesome! We saw it three times – once with us, once with friends, and once with my parents 🙂