Star Wars: The Films Considered, Part 1

Star Wars: The Films Considered, Part 1
by Dileep Rao

First, let's talk, as so few do, about the absolute brilliance of the original Star Wars, later revised to Star Wars IV: A New Hope. The film starts off in mid-story, no background is given. The robots--droids, as the film calls them--abscond with a robed woman's secrets to mistakenly deliver them to the most vapid of film heroes, Luke Skywalker. The absurdly named Skywalker sets off to find the even more absurdly named Obi-Wan Kenobe (one of the film's greatest lines is when Luke asks himself, "Obi-Wan Kenobe? I wonder if he means old Ben Kenobe?" Gee, Luke, ya think?) to relay the desperate cry for help the princess gives us. We are now in the full clutches of an ancient dying order and Luke, when he loses his relations and with them his rural working-class illusions, must now take center stage in a galactic opera. All of which happens after the greatest entrance by the greatest film villain of all time (sorry Dr. Lecter), Darth Vader.

Vader is singularly malevolent, "more machine than man, twisted and evil." His breathing is as audible as if done through a respirator. He is faceless, ruthless in his voice commands, stands nearly seven feet tall and is capable of physical and metaphysical violence of a kind never seen before. His is a stark world of execution of will. He is masterfully influential, a mass murderer without conscience when necessary, but not without skillful intelligence and utter fealty to the "dark side of the Force." Lucas' pseudo-religious mumbo jumbo (the Force, the Jedi, the good and dark sides) infuses all this techno construct with a simple and bipolar morality, a comforting world where evil is clearly labeled and we can simply be good by choosing to oppose it. At least in this film, it's that simple.

Enter now Harrison Ford as Han Solo. There is simply no other way to write this than to state it: Han Solo is the coolest character that ever existed in film. Never mind that he has a dorky white shirt on, never mind that he also is wearing a black vest (yes, a vest). Look at how that blaster is slung low on his thigh. Look at his utter and total relaxation in a plastic world that springs to life with his presence. From the cantina (and its amazing music) to his "improvised" conversation on the Death Star, from his selfishness to his heroic reappearance to thwart Vader and allow Luke to perform the impossible, Solo is without a doubt a kind of 70's channeling of Rick Blaine from Casablanca. This film is a children's film or here too Han might have touched Leia's face and said, "We'll always have Tantive IV."

Leia is a woman playing a girl. She is both subconsciously sexual (again, this is a children's film) and brainy, challenging Tarkin and Vader with her intellect. Vader is uninterested in bandying wits with her as much as he is obsessed with defeating Obi-Wan. He also has an unnatural fixation on stamping out the Jedi, but then again what's natural about this guy? The film's final act and set piece is an extraordinarily well-executed synthesis of clear plot, complex action, special effects, and near misses. It's harrowing and dangerous, the music giving balletic flight to these models, setting the spacecraft soaring into our imaginations.

The music is a supremely important component of this film, a Wagnerian leitmotif-influenced score that tracks the scenes in melodic modalities and arriving in inspired time to carry us through even the oddest sequences. (The Jawa sandcrawler? Who the heck are those droids and why is that washing machine being tortured?) C-3PO is an inspired dandy, comic relief of a kind that disappeared in the 60's but came roaring back here. R2-D2 is the unintelligible American, a stalwart of the group whose sacrifices and spunky ingenuity are crucial to the picture's staying power over time. Star Wars IV: A New Hope is simply one of the finest films ever made. It is photographed in glorious cinemascope, supremely crisp in its editing and sequencing and unequaled as an imaginative leap. Never before had we been so transported. From its opening, "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..." to its final credit, it is a stunning achievement.

Dileep can be reached at dileep@babblog.com.