Yes, confessional time; it is 2013 and I am writing my review of Avatar (2009) having promised myself I would see it for four years now. It was only when I was ill at the weekend, when I had no energy to do anything other than lie on the sofa, as these things sometimes happen, that I got the opportunity to watch and review Avatar for you!
The 2009 science fiction action film both written and directed by James Cameron (of Titanic 1997 fame), starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Joel David Moore, Giovanni Ribisi and Sigourney Weaver. Set in the mid-22nd century, when humans are mining a precious mineral prophetically named unobtanium on Pandora, a lush habitable moon of a gas giant in the Alpha Centauri star system. The expansion of the mining colony threatens the continued existence of a local tribe of Na'vi people, humanoids indigenous to Pandora. The title refers to a genetically engineered Na'vi body with the mind of a remotely located human, used to interact with the natives of Pandora and thus to colonize them and take control of the area of mining land on which their sacred 'Tree of Songs' sits.
Avatar thus alludes to the greater themes and deeper philosophy of Cameron films, as images of American military parading around an alien land machine guns in tow are reminiscent of the Iraq war and other conflicts. The plight of the Na'vi is that of long-indigenous countries across the globe and unobtanium is the collective fossil fuel resources that we sadly deplete rapidly on an hourly basis.
What can Avatar mean to us? Does Cameron fulfil a greater intention of bringing global understanding to environmental issues in writing this film? Or does it make individuals take notice of their actions and consequence on the earth? I can't give the answers to those questions but what I can say is that with its beautiful cinemtography and mix of CGI and action sequences Avatar is bound not to disappoint, even if it is lengthy. Bring out the blue body paint and let me be a shiny, glittery nature humanoid too!
Carpe Diem xx
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