Movie (Review) in a Moment: Avatar

This past weekend I had opportunity to see the new James Cameron film, Avatar. Judging by the astounding box office sales (75+ million over 3 days), I was not alone. Courtesy of the Galleria 6 and not a few contractual obligations relating to screening Avatar, I was also among the many who had a very pleasant 3D experience. As to the film itself, well...

Visually, Avatar is stunning. Cameron's dedication to producing film technology in order to produce film has ensured that the world of Pandora and its people, the Na'Vi, are quite compelling to watch. Perhaps the best compliment I can pay Cameron is to note that the world he has created is the best I have seen since Star Wars. (In addition, Cameron's inhabitants engender far more sympathy than Lucas' Jar Jar Binks who later came to Tatooine). Because this is a 'movie in a moment' I will neither gush nor go into great detail about the mimetic world of Pandora. I will simply repeat that visually, Avatar is stunning. Undoubtedly this is one of those films that will redefine cinema.

In terms of story, Avatar holds its own (at least for two out of three acts) but it is definitely a visual feast first. This is not to suggest, however, that Avatar is without something to say. On the contrary, costing between 300 and 500 million Avatar is one of Hollywood's most expensive sermons. It's three points seem to be a critique of Bush doctrine ('winning hearts and minds," alongside a campaign of "shock and awe"); an expose of human greed and rapaciousness (primarily practiced by economically developed and militarily capable cultures); and an apologetic for pantheism (in which 'god' is identified with a monistic universe and the Gaia hypothesis is championed).

This sermonic element is not new, indeed we have heard Avatar's message before in films like Dances With Wolves. Broadly summarized: Military man pushes forward into new territory, trusting in the military hierarchy and its doctrine. Military man becomes detached from the military and its vision as he sees afresh the flora and fauna of an area untouched by developed or dominant culture. Contact with native peoples moves from suspicion and fear through curiosity, to appreciation, to deeper understanding, all the way to acceptance and finally identifying and belonging. The military man is now no longer. He has become -showing himself to be truly cultured and properly fulfilled- one with nature and with those who live in harmony with nature; even to the point of siding with his new family and tribe against dominant culture and its agenda. I am not sure that Dances With Wolves was terribly subtle in its critique and criticisms, but Avatar has all the subtlety of a brick thrown through a plate glass window. The almost 3 hour long sermon that Avatar preaches was, to my ears, simply shrill.

To be fair, there are some good things that could be said. From a biblical-theistic point of view there are 'echoes of Eden' that can be discerned in Avatar. There are also instances of critique that would resonate with those of the biblical prophets. And so my advice is not to shun this film. But overall I left my seat in the cinema relieved that this sermon had ended. The imprint on my nose from my 3D glasses helped to remind me that I had seen something amazing. But the Na'Vi's psychic/sexual(?) bonding with their creatures, their orgiastic worship at the Tree of Souls, their trust in and communing with an impersonal deity (Eywa), who promises little more than to 'maintain balance of life,' all left me concerned at the promotion of the fatally flawed worldview that animates the Avatar story. More positively, it also left me thankful for the infinite-personal God of the Bible.

In the biblical tradition, God, infinite in his being, power and goodness, made this world and all in it. Although distinct from the created order yet he is nonetheless personally acquainted with the world and personally active within it. Moreover, because He is a person, we can cry out to Him and expect to be heard and helped. (In this regard, one wonders how the impersonal Eywa can actually answer the prayers of the Na'Vi and of Jake Sully? At this point, James Cameron is borrowing from the Christian tradition to bolster his pantheism). Certainly this God does call us, his image-bearers, to steward and to manage the created order, but with compassion, with wisdom, and with the knowledge that we as creatures are in many ways quite dependent upon our earthly environment. That Cameron draws attention to our serious failures in this regard ought to rest heavy with us. Rather than becoming defensive about the source of this barb, let us instead confess our ecological sin, repent of our arrogance toward nature, and keep a beneficent relationship with all that God has created and given us to care for and live amid. Psalm 8 comes flooding to mind. Read it prior to heading off to the theatre. Read it again post-Avatar and employ it as a rubric for thinking through what you heard.

Surely much more could be said, but as this is intended to be just a 'movie (review) in a moment' I will sign off here. For fuller reviews, see:

Ty Burr: http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2009/12/17/avatar_is_an_out_of_body_experience/?page=full

Roger Ebert: http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091211/REVIEWS/912119998

Ross Douthart: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/viewpoints/stories/DN-douthat_1224edi.State.Edition1.244baae.html