Ben Brugler: I’ve Ben Thinking...

So this is what is was like to witness Star Wars.

I regretfully was born about ten years too late (I was one when Star Wars came out) to experience history being made. History in the sense that I was watching something that had never been done and would alter the course of film-making – and how we experienced films – forever. (In fact, look no further than Cameron’s own reaction to Star Wars to see how it affected him.) It wasn’t science fiction. It was artful storytelling. It was hope for every child who had ever been told they have an overactive imagination – or that they daydream too much – that their “talent” would one day be marketable.

And as we learned in high school, in the pages of our textbooks, history always repeats itself.

We are at that moment again. History is repeating itself in the form of James Cameron’s film experience, Avatar.

I was fortunate to have a day out to see Avatar, finally, this weekend. In the old days I would have been lined up for days prior to the release, just to say I was one of the first to see the film. Today I’ll take the three-hour reprieve my parents are kind enough to give me. Well, not both – after all, it was my dad who said no matter what, you can’t let this movie leave theaters without you seeing it. So naturally, he accompanied me for his second (and surely not his last) viewing.

I was nervous to see this film. The night before seeing it felt like Christmas Eve. I hadn’t read a review or watched one plug for the film, outside of the trailer, purposefully avoiding them to prevent any tainting or overhype. Little did I know, less then 24 hours later, that it’s impossible to overhype this experience.

At the conclusion of the film I was careful in choosing my words. I waited until I could actually articulate my opinion. But that moment never came. And to avoid sounding ignorant or not appreciating the history I had just seen, I said little.

I was correct to hold my tongue, because, I have always said, you can’t fully judge a movie until you see what stays with you in the first 24 hours. In the case of Avatar, it isn’t what stays with you as much as if the experience decides to release you.  See, this film is incapable of a review. You can’t understand it unless you see it.

The only ‘review’ I can give is that you need to review yourself. Your expectations of what a movie can deliver. The power a film experience can have. What you consider to be a truly great film. The formula hasn’t changed, as you can still judge the film on script, acting, score, directing – something you’ll find no discussion of here – but to do so would be inaccurate. What has changed is the delivery of that formula. How you experience a film. What you allow your self and your conscious to absorb.

I feel bad for all the great, award-worthy films that have come out this year – and there have been a few that are definitely in that category – for sure Inglorious Basterds and Up in the Air are in the discussion. But they almost have to take the attitude of ‘it’s been great, but we’re just going to sit this one out’. Because to be considered for said award you first have to be nominated to a select group of your peers. However, Avatar has no peer. Not because it’s the best movie ever made – but because it is unlike something you’ve ever experienced.

How I feel about the movie itself, as I mentioned before, won’t be discussed here. But know that it’s message and meaning is one that is worthy of such a grand delivery. One that even if you hated the movie and everything about it, everything it stood for, every actor in it, demands the respect that is given to a truly great film. You can consider this to be an inappropriate comparison, but to dismiss Avatar by saying it ‘sucked’ or was ‘overrated’ is like saying the same thing about the 2008 Presidential election. Obviously two different instances but you don’t have to like something to appreciate its place in history – and be grateful that you weren’t born too late to witness it.