I do not review movies often, but Star Wars has a special
place in my heart. The original was my favorite movie as a child, and it
maintains that status to this day. Imagine my delight when I went to summer
camp for the first time and my cabin counselor was a Star Wars freak. We spent
the week quoting lines and challenging each other with obscure trivia. I was
seriously questioning and considering my Christian faith, and my counselor used
Star Wars references to help guide me. He compared the Holy Spirit to the Force
and the responsibility for living a Christian life to the Jedi. In a very real
way, Star Wars became part of my faith story.
Like many other fans, my reaction to the prequel movies was
lukewarm, at best. I took particular offense to the demystifying of the Force
(midi-chlorians do not fit with my pneumatology). There are many other aspects
of the prequels on which I could vent my frustration, but that is no longer
necessary. Why, you ask? Because The
Force Awakens pretends that the prequels don’t even exist! J.J. Abrams
understood the problem with clarity: Star Wars itself was having an identity
crisis. Fans were confused about what the Force is and who the Jedi are because
the two trilogies are shockingly inconsistent. Rest assured, the original
trilogy is the only one that matters. With that, strap yourselves in, and if
you have not seen the movie, stop reading right now. SPOILERS AHEAD, there will
be!
Let me put all the Sabacc cards on the table: I really like this movie. I actually enjoyed it even more the second time I saw it (probably
because I was no longer anxious about being let down). The story is fun and
well written, and the actors are superb. Harrison Ford puts in a performance
that could easily carry this movie, but it does not have to because everyone
else is amazing. Adam Driver, Oscar Isaacs, and John Boyega are solid, but
Daisy Ridley’s performance is out of this world. I still have not decided if Domhnall
Gleeson overacted his role as General Hux, but it really doesn’t matter because
everyone else is so good.
The Force Awakens
is a great title because much of the movie is focused on remystifying the Force. It once again moves in mysterious and
unexpected ways. We saw a blaster bolt frozen in mid-air, memories extracted,
and an inanimate object somehow containing the presence of the Force (sounds
almost sacramental)! Most importantly, we saw the Force working in and through
the lives of individuals as they try to discover their place in the universe.
It is a movie first and foremost about identity.
With the mystical identity of the Force reestablished, we turn our attention to
our six main characters, who are each having a crisis of identity.
The opening crawl begins with the crisis: “Luke Skywalker
has vanished.” This event has set in motion a new crisis for the entire galaxy.
Since the end of Return of the Jedi,
Luke has been busy trying to train the next generation of Jedi Knights,
essentially taking on a responsibility that was thrust upon him as the last of
the Jedi. We do not know how many students Luke was training, but we know that
one of them ran away to follow the dark side. This was Ben Solo, the son of Han
and Leia. His defection causes a rift among Han, Luke, and Leia. What I
ultimately like about this plot point is that it makes our characters so human. Han and Leia are parents who lost
a child, and this crisis causes them to question their identities and run back
to a life that they felt was secure. Han returns to smuggling, and Leia returns
to military planning. Notice their identity struggles throughout the movie. Is
Leia the princess or the general? What happened to her Jedi training? We have
to assume that she was one of Luke’s students. It appears that she has
renounced following the Force in the wake of Ben’s departure. This certainly
resonates with human experience. Losing a child causes her to question her
relationships and to question her faith. When we first encounter Han, he is
literally reentering his old role in life as he steps on board the Millennium
Falcon. Finn and Rey immediately put his identity crisis into words: is he the
famous smuggler or the famous rebellion fighter? Remember that Han Solo was the
great skeptic of the Force in the original Star Wars movie. Now he is a firm
believer in the power of the Force, and he becomes an influential mentor to Rey
as she struggles with her beliefs. It seems that Han has found his faith, while
Leia has lost hers.
Luke, on the other hand, has taken a step back. Viewers know
that he is hearing echoes of Obi-Wan from the original Star Wars: “I thought I
could instruct him just as well as Yoda. I was wrong.” The details are a little
unclear, but it appears that he has left behind clues to his whereabouts as a
sort of quest. He knows that people are looking for him, and he leaves it up to
the Force to determine whom he will encounter at movie’s end. Remember that
both the First Order and the Resistance have the larger piece of the map. Luke
knows that he could face Kylo Ren or a new student on that island. His
essential question of the Force is, “Who am I?"
Kylo Ren is a great character. Ben Solo has renounced his
family and taken on a dark moniker. Throughout the movie, he is trying to
convince everyone around him (but most importantly himself) that he is pure evil. But he is a
complicated and conflicted character. I loved the scene of him talking to the
melted mask of Darth Vader, asking for forgiveness that he feels the call to
the light. We as viewers understand the irony of this, since Vader is the one
who was redeemed from the dark side and ultimately destroyed the personification
of evil (the Emperor). Good and evil are not cut and dry. People are complex,
and Star Wars tells us that even the most evil people can be redeemed. We
desperately wanted this redemption for Kylo Ren at the end of the movie, even
though we knew that Han’s journey down that bridge was almost certain to be a
one-way trip. Han knew it, too. But he went anyway. Han is the only one of our
characters who ultimately had to make a choice about his identity, and he
decided that he was neither smuggler nor soldier. He was a father.
FN-2187 is one of our new heroes. He was taken from his
family as a child and given an identity as a storm trooper. He rejects this
identity and runs away from it, but it takes someone else to tell him who he
really is. Poe Dameron, upon hearing the name FN-2187, refuses to call him
that. Instead, he gives him a new name: Finn. This renaming has a profound
affect on Finn. Throughout the movie, we see him living into this new identity
and coming to realize who he wants to be. It is overly simplistic to call his a
story of self-determination. He rejects certain paths, but others guide him
into an understanding of who he is. This is true to how life works. We do not
determine our identities on our own. We are profoundly shaped by our
relationships with those around us.
Rey’s story is the most intriguing in the movie because we
are left with the most questions. She was abandoned on Jakku, and she is
convinced that her family will return. She even keeps a tally of the days she
has spent there. Her identity is the great mystery of the movie, especially as
the Force awakens within her and she proves considerably stronger in the Force
than Kylo Ren. She is the one to complete the quest and locate Luke, confirming
his identity as teacher. I love the last scene, as he looks intriguingly at the
outstretched light saber. I look forward to discovering, along with Rey, who
she is and who she will become. I have some guesses, and I hope they are all
wrong. I am convinced that Han knows who she is (watch it again and see if you
agree), so that could prove interesting.
The Force Awakens
sees the Star Wars franchise return to its roots. In case we are too dense to
realize this, Abrams throws in so many echoes and references to the original
movie that we almost find ourselves shouting, “I get it!” The most important
thing for me as a fan is that we are back to focusing on compelling characters.
The role of fantasy is to give us a reflection of the real world. It allows us
to look at ourselves and the world around us in new ways. Star Wars did this
for me years ago, as I began taking ownership of my Christian identity and understanding how God is at work in the world. I am
still discovering who I am in relation to God and the world. I think that is
true of all of us, as we ask the question, “What is a lifetime and why do I
live it?” Maybe this movie can help us consider that identity a little bit deeper.
Or, at the very least, it is a ton of fun to watch! Enjoy the movie, my
friends, and may the Force be with you!
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