A moving film that is more than the sum of its parts (or dollars)

Rating: 9/10 (14 January 2010)

Happily, artists' works can transcend their arrogance. James Cameron does not come across as a modest fellow, but he has managed (yet again) to create a film which is more than the sum of its parts (or dollars).
Watching Avatar, I couldn't help but wonder. What's with the 3D craze? Who cares about the box office? Why the complaints about the trite story? It's true that the plot is predictable and the characters are caricatures at times. But simplicity can be good for a film. It can make it enjoyable for even the greatest simpleton. What can be better than giving people what they want, than letting them wish their dreams into existence? That's how Hollywood made its fortune.
So, are the most popular movies just a right mix of simple story and splendid visuals? I'd say there's more here than meets the eye.
I'd say the people counting Avatar's billions can't think beyond their wallets. I'd say the ones raving about the 3D future of cinema can't see past their goggles. And those complaining about the story have lost the sense of wonder that led them on when they were kids.
Ironically, Avatar's mirror to reality is so grand that all the above can find themselves in it. Perhaps even moved to change.
Because besides vistas, thrills and big badaboom, this is also a film of beauty, love and wonderful insight. Even in 2D.
The story in Avatar is not unlike stories told in Star Wars or Dances with Wolves. But because its world is not too scattered in space or too far back in the past, it allows us a glimmer of hope.
Hope of ending the destruction of war. Hope of living in harmony with the living beings around us. Hope of banishing greed from our lives and maybe even finding a cure for capitalism. Hope of being reborn into the avatars we use to escape from the drudgery of our lives.
Of course, as the hero of the film says, one day you have to wake up. Let's hope it is to bring change to our tired world, rather than to see how much bigger the humans' guns are in the sequel (or how the Na'vi have sex in the DVD).
Because change starts here and now. And it starts with you and me.