A Review of James Cameron’s “Avatar”, starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang and Michelle Rodriguez

 

After almost 14 years of the hype ‘Titanic’, writerdirector - producer James Cameron still manages to create a buzz, returning to the big screen with a blockbuster action and a mega-size budget that broke all records in filmmaking history.

 

Shot in 3D motion-capture mixed with live action, this almost three hour movie finds Cameron back in sci-fi epic territory, his genre of choice and indeed Avatar is a breathtaking journey into a self-created world. But is it a compelling story with memorable characters? Unique set pieces? Is it something to get excited about beyond the technical mastery? Not really.

 

Avatar is primarily an action-adventure journey of self-discovery, in the context of imperialism and biodiversity. It’s based on Cameron’s original script and is set on the planet of Pandora, a mysterious, rainforest-like planet filled with deadly flowers and monstrous creatures - a race of indigenous primitives who hate their human invaders and kill them on sight. These “primitives” known as the Na’vi resemble humans, but are extremely tall, have blue skin, dreadlocks, catlike noses and can communicate with the plant life and other creatures with the feelers embedded in their tails. They speak in their own language and are fierce warriors who live in the great tree in the middle of the forested planet.

 

And what could be a better plotline than natural resources? The people of earth have ran out of oil and they depend on a natural resource named “unobotanium” and it so happens that there is an abundance of that natural resource under the great tree where the Na’vi are living.

 

The rest of the plotline is quite obvious. War ensues to control the land, an anti-hero becomes hero and miraculously all ends well.

 

Underlying Avatar is the story of the colonization of the Americas and the destruction of the native population and their culture between the advent of Columbus through the massacre at Wounded Knee up to the bulldozing of the Amazon rainforests. Coupled with this, are more recent acts of neocolonialism like Afghanistan and Iraq.

 

The Marines are now the despoiling enemy and the aliens the good guys, and thrown into the mix are references to King Kong, Planet of the Apes and Bambi and echoes of HG Wells ‘The Time Machine’.

 

But the problem is that Avatar is overlong, dramatically and twodimensional.

 

But the imagery is often breathtaking, the ferocious battles brilliantly staged and technically it pushes the medium forward, though not necessarily in a direction that everyone, myself included, will approve of. And let’s hope 3D doesn’t become the norm rather than the exception…

 

 

 

“Messages from the Sea” starring, Asser Yassin, Basma, Mohamed
Lotfy, and Salah Abdalla.

 

“Take me to the sea, Yehia”, thus said Nora to Yehia in a beautiful master scene of Daoud Abdel Sayed’s latest film “Messages from the Sea” and while Yehia takes his beloved in a gentle boat trip, Abdel Sayed takes us on a whirlwind journey into the sea of spirituality, fantasy and pure cinematic joy.

 

Eight years of voluntary confinement after his last film “A Citizen, An Informant, and A thief”, Abdel Sayed returns with this pearl from the sea that is simple, deep and innocent yet full of mysteries.

 

Set in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, the cosmopolitan city on the northern shore of Egypt that was once home to a multi cultural society, the film tells the story of Yehia played by Asser Yassin, a recent medical school graduate who suffers from a speech impediment.

 

The film opens as the last close member of Yehia’s family passes away. Discontent with life in Cairo and the constant humiliation he suffers at work because of his speech problem, Yehia returns to his hometown Alexandria where his family owns a flat in an old building. Innocent, yet passionate and full of life, he begins exploring life by working as a fisherman, drinking and meeting new people and listening to Classic music played from the window of a complete stranger.

 

As we follow Yehia through his journey; his re-encounter with his old love Carla (played by Samia Asaad) his new encounter with the mysterious Nora, and the beginning of a painful love relationship, his friendship with Qabil, the harmless bodyguard who suffers from a brain tumor that might cause him his memory, we also trace the changes Alexandria went through from a cosmopolitan multi-cultural city to a mono-cultural city dominated by a form of Islamic Capitalism.

 

In true Daoud fashion, the casting was perfect from Yassin who brilliantly captures the innocence and sensitivity of Yehia to Basma who finally rose to her potential with a haunting portrayal of the very sophisticated Nora. Supporting cast shone too, especially Mohamed Lotfy as the timid Qabil as well as Samia Asaad and Nabiha Lotfy as the Italian neighbours - Carla and her mother Francesca respectively.

 

Kudos also go to the brilliant director of Cinematography Ahmed El Morsi, whose sensitive lens brought Alexandria to life as never seen before and to composer Rageh Daoud whose haunting soundtrack, rightly captures the mood of the film and immerses us, as viewers, even more in its realm of fantasy.

 

Perhaps the weakest element in the film was the editing by Mona Rabie who heavily depended on dissolving cadres, taking away from the beauty of the picture itself.

 

But that does not take away from the value of the film and as Nora was referring to Yehia as a “A sip of water amidst thirst”, this film seems to be “A breath of fresh breeze in a hot desert”