Avatar (January 21, 2010), Carol Wong

There is no way to explain this movie to someone.  You will just have to experience it for yourself.  I believe when a movie is done well, from the writing of the script to what ends up on the cutting room floor, it causes us to focus all our attention on what's going on onscreen.  There is no endless waiting for the action to begin or waiting for the plot to thicken.  We are already swept into the story the minute it appears on the movie screen.

I became so swept up in the story that at times the world of Avatar where Jack Sully, the main character, has been transported was more real to me than the so-called "real" world of the military base.  At different points in the movie, it seemed like our reality was an intrusion into what the world really should be - a place where man is not at war with nature, but is trying to be synchronized with it. 

I was very touched by the relationship that the Na'vi people seemed to have with their environment, their surroundings and the wild animals.  It spoke to issues that are close to my heart.  I would like to think I would be at home in Pandora, home of the Na’vi, because I liked the idea of not trying to seek and destroy but rather seek to understand.  It did seem as if the Na'vi were similar to futuristic Native Americans or the First Nation people for they possessed a spiritual connection to the land and were devastated when the land and its inhabitants were destroyed for no apparent reason.The scientist, played by Sigourney Weaver, warned the administrators that they should not cut down any of the plants and especially the trees in a particular area (Tree of Souls) because there was a spiritual connection between the trees and the life of the Na'vi people.  A life energy force was connected between these two life forms and to destroy all the trees was going to have a negative effect on the entire world of the Na'vi.

This movie reiterates the idea of how man is not in tune with his environment and tends to "dominate" it rather than understand.  Historically, I feel this idea of domination is also proven true in America.  The United States was "settled," primarily at the expense of the original inhabitants and this wreaked havoc on the environment as seen in the almost extinction of the buffalos to the overuse of the land resulting in "dust bowls."

It was difficult for me to watch the scenes where the trees and land were being utterly destroyed by the military.  I felt something in my spirit ached and there was such a mournful cry inside of me.  I actually heard these words in my spirit, "the rocks and trees will cry out."  I took this to mean that some part of the land cries out when there is terrible injustice being done and innocent blood is spilled.