Warning, spoilers ahead!
You might be quite surprised to learn that director James Cameron was born and raised in Canada, not the United States. He was born in 1954 to a family of engineers in Kapuskasing in Ontario, Canada. This is highly important when considering his career as a film director.
Even though both countries are in extreme proximity to each other (they share a border), and also have the same official language, Canada and the United States couldn’t be more different. If you were to take even a quick glance at the recent history of both countries, you would notice many striking differences in their society, politics, and foreign policies.
While the USA, at the dawn of their birth as a nation, was systematically involved in lying to, exploiting, and killing the indigenous population of North America, Canada (originally a British colony) was instead focusing its efforts on preserving the Native peoples’ society and way of life.
This way of thinking has long ago established its place as the dominant mentality of Canadians, who tend to define themselves simply as “not American”.
The US educational system is forced to ignore or conveniently omit the not-so-pleasant points of its history, specifically their treatment of the indigenous population. Instead, it focuses on the unique plethora of nationalities that make up the American population and the unique stance in the global village that it provides them with. This however has not encouraged many of American citizens to be more friendly or accepting of other nationalities. In contrast, Canadian school systems focus on the support and unity that Canada has tried to establish with the Native populations whose land they now share.
Since James Cameron immigrated to USA in 1971, the majority of his youth was spent in Canada, attending Canadian schools, and learning to appreciate the Canadian mentality – a trait which can still be seen in his work after all these years.
In Avatar, after being fully submerged into the futuristic fauna of a faraway planet inhabited by its own indigenous population, the viewer can very clearly see the association between the planet’s population and that of the Native peoples and their portrayal in 70’s Westerns. James Cameron was completely successful in recreating an idea of a world in which all of its inhabitants live in unity and symbiosis, and the relationship the “people” of the planet have with their surroundings. Even when the heroine has to kill an animal in self defense, she asks for its forgiveness, and not just from her, but also from the protagonist who startled it in the first place. The degree of detail in every visual that is shown to the viewer is mesmerizing, it is clear that everything was done with an expectation of the utmost level of quality, and James Cameron’s influence on the whole process is clear.
For the duration of the entire movie, I was tormented by what seemed to be an inescapably tragic end to this story. The invaders, soldiers, commanders were all very well developed as menacing, forward-thinking army machines with only one goal in mind. Steven Lang was absolutely perfect for the role, and was in superb shape even at his age of 57. The helicopter battle scenes were reminiscent of old clips of the Vietnam War.
By the end of the movie, the tension was almost unbearable, especially during the destruction of the natives’ Home Tree. My 10-year-old son could not hold back tears as the majestic tree was reduced to nothing but burning ash. I could not help but think that this was it, a defeat that could not have been prevented at any cost, a tragedy that will weaken the natives’ spirits and will allow the invaders to fully take control and exploit any resources that the planet has.
Not the case in this movie! James Cameron is not simply one of the best Hollywood directors, but quite possible one of the greatest directors in film history. And this was truly his moment to shine as both a director and scriptwriter.
Think back to his earlier film – The Abyss (1989). If you only saw the theatrical version, you missed out on a very important part of the story. For some reason, this scene was only included in the Director’s Cut, and not the version shown in theatres. If you get the DVD, you can access this version by simply choosing “Special Edition Version” from the main menu.
Fig.1. Selecting the “Special Edition” version
When the protagonist Ed Harris wakes up in a UFO, before his eyes plays a montage that details man’s violence towards his fellow men, nature and other inhabitants of Earth, as well as a method of erasing this parasitic society off the face of the planet. The second half of that scene was not shown in the theatrical version. When Ed asks the aliens why they chose to save his life, they reply with a flashback of his last words as he gives his life in order to save the lives of his friends (only this scene was show in the theatrical version). Back in 1989, Cameron couldn’t convince the producers to keep that important scene in, it was simply not the right time to do so.
Now, however, after years of work and development, James Cameron shows off a clearly extravagant movie that will get the viewer thinking not merely about the plot, but all the current and past historic events that it shadows. It is almost impossible not to be moved by it considering the amount of different character relationships that are present in the movie, and the depth that they posess.
Unfortunately, there are some film critics that took the protagonists actions as betrayal of the human race. In such comments lies the blatant anthropocentric view that some hold when they critique art. If you can, avoid such misguided drivel!
On the contrary, Jake Sully (the film’s protagonist) performs an extraordinary act of sacrifice in trying to save the ingenious population. There is nothing criminal about doing the right thing, regardless of what some people may say.
One simply cannot take Avatar as just another sci-fi action flick. It is a masterpiece of filmmaking, a work that had clearly been nursed, extensively worked on, and deeply cared for by its creators.
A great “thank you” goes out to James Cameron for creating not only the best movie of the year or of the decade, but quite possibly the greatest cinematic achievement in the history of mankind.
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