Star Wars triumphs at Cannes
2005-05-16 08:20
Cannes, France - The last "Star Wars" movie to complete the six-part saga, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith", triumphed at Cannes late on Sunday when it was shown in a red-carpet screening.
George Lucas and the leading actors Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman and Samuel L Jackson received two standing ovations from the black-tie crowd, one at the beginning and the other at the end of the film.
"It's great. It's like an opera," the US actor Billy Zane said after the movie, which was shown out of the official Cannes competition.
"It's a great film. A great commercial film," a director from Mali, Souleymane Cisse, said.
Others spotted in the audience stirred by the spectacular movie included Sharon Stone, the US actress, and a number of French celebrities such as Alain Chabat.
Appreciation of the film
The appreciation of the film appeared to go beyond its entertainment value and even its significance as the final instalment of a series that has become part of popular culture and defined sci-fi filmmaking.
Many appeared to be cheering its references suggesting a comparison between Darth Vader's evil Empire and US President George W Bush's administration.
Much of the dialogue revolves around the transformation of a democracy into a dictatorship, and a politician's use of a fabricated war to increase his hold on power.
At one point in the film, Anakin Skywalker, the Jedi who becomes Darth Vader, even warns: "You're either with me, or you're my enemy."
The phrase echoed Bush's ultimatum made in 2001 in which he said "Either you're with us or you're against us in the fight on terror."
Lucas told reporters that when he wrote the original Star Wars at the end of the Vietnam war he wanted to explore the issue of how a democracy turns into a dictatorship.
"When I wrote it, Iraq (the US-led war) didn't exist... (but) the parallels of what we did in Vietnam and Iraq are unbelievable."
Parallels with the US
He acknowledged an uncomfortable feeling that the United States was in danger of losing its democratic ideals, like in the movie.
"I didn't think it was going to get this close. I hope this doesn't come true in our country."
Although he didn't mention Bush by name, Lucas took what sounded like another dig while explaining the transformation of the once-good Anakin Skywalker to the very bad Darth Vader.
"Most bad people think they're good people," he said.
Others in the audience, though, were content to watch the movie as the middle chapter in the six-part series Lucas first brought to the big screen in 1977.
By far the darkest of all the series, Revenge of the Sith recounts how one of cinema's most famous villains, the evil Lord Darth Vader, came into being.
The story rockets from one battle sequence to another, pausing only for quiet moments to develop relationships between the characters before embarking on another starship laser fight or a lightsabre duel.
Applause broke out at the moment the iconic black mask of Vader was presented and clicked on the head of the character previously known as Anakin Skywalker - father of Luke, the hero of the original series made a generation ago.
The movie opens worldwide Wednesday and Thursday this week, adding millions more to the $3.4bn - about R21bn - the saga has so far generated, and the $9bn - about R56bn - dollars in merchandising.