WARNING: Review contains film spoilers.
In Hinduism, the word “avatar” refers to the manifestation of a god in human flesh, or to descend. While there are no deities taking human form in James Cameron’s critically acclaimed Avatar (2009), instead are humans taking on alien form as avatars in order to interact with natives of the planet Pandora.
The $200 million budget resulted in an obviously expensive technology-driven aesthetic. Avatar is a festival of special effects - with the creation of a densely fertile planet, an entire race of blue-skinned tribal giants and a floating military base and science lab. There is no footage of actual Earth at all in this dystopian future, as all things earthly is represented as lab equipment or war machines.
Avatar preys on the collective consciousness of the Western world today. Like most science-fiction films, the underlying issue here that of race and human corruption. Avatar explores Western historical guilt – genocide, holocaust and colonization as well as present destruction – climate change, over consumption of resources and corporate greed as justification for the destruction of nature.
The protagonist, a paraplegic ex-Marine Jake Sully (played by newcomer Sam Worthington) befriends the Na’vi people of Pandora in his avatar form. They accept him into their community, and he even falls for the chief’s daughter (the graceful Zoe Saldana). Meanwhile, he is working for Marines, scientists and corporate hounds who need the natives to evacuate their land, so that millions of dollars can be made from a precious mineral that grows there.
Jake, being a microcosm for the everyday film viewer (or video gamer) is deliberately a malleable character, so to make it easier for audiences to imagine themselves in his shoes. The villainous Colonel (Stephen Lang) is as archetypal as can be, reminiscent of the trigger-happy surfer Colonel Bill Kilgore from Coppola’s Apocalypse Now (1979). Jake becomes a sort of Messiah, being a hero to the indigenous people of Pandora on one hand, and on another, he is living out his video game fantasies.
The blue-skinned and golden-eyed Na’vi themselves are a cinematic wonder. And their planet glows in the dark. Pandora is abundant with creepy multiple armed lemurs, colourful self-lit fauna, floating ethereal jellyfish and pet banshees. Avatar loses no points when it comes to visuals. Everything just looks good.
The beliefs of the Na’vi people are cross-credited to every other indigenous peoples that have lived on earth. At the core of Hinduism is the belief that all living things – humans, animals, plants, stars are all part of the same energy system. The Na’vi have utmost respect for their environment and their spirit in the same way. The Maori believe that whatever is borrowed from the earth must be given back, as do the Na’vi, seen particularly when they pray for the corpses of animals they kill. The parallels with existing indigenous cultures are endless.
James Cameron does his best to express colonial trauma felt unconsciously by most of the Western world. The Na’vi become victims of racial genocide, a human condition repeated in history time and time again. The American marines take pleasure in gassing and bombing their “Hometree” fortress, all with dollar signs in their eyes.
Overall, Avatar is exactly the sort of hyper-real visual spectacle you wouldn’t mind paying $20 to see in IMAX 3-D. It’s a bit like an epic, non-interactive video game. While the story is somewhat predictable and the dialogue pumped with clichés, the picture is simply exhilarating.
* Manisha Anjali has a Bachelor’s degree in Film/TV/Media Studies and English from the University of Auckland