An extraordinarily marketed and promoted ordinary sci-fi film

Zero gravity preservation chambers, giant flying birds, multi-legged horses, ferocious beasts, big coffin-like pods with all kinds of tubes attached to them in which lie alien species, breathtaking phantasmagorical flora and fauna, glowing cute little creatures floating in space, gigantic war machines, space stations, gadget-filled command centres with virtual computer screens hanging in the air, giant robotic armour, etc. etc. -- we have seen it all in countless sci-fi films.

The new addition to this menagerie is blue-colored male and female humanoids with conical ears and long tails, and very tall, sinuous, and athletic bodies, with not an ounce of extra flesh on their slender frames, looking at you with big brown almond-shaped and slanted eyes like those of a doe; as they smile, you can see their prominent canine teeth that indicate their carnivorous nature. These are the denizens of Pandora, the planet created by James Cameron. It is on the verge of being invaded by greedy American colonists, who are out to destroy the tranquillity of the sedentary planet of tropical forests, big waterfalls, and hovering landmasses, for some precious mineral.

It is like Columbus setting his ugly foot on the North American shores and unleashing a volley of violence against the native Americans, who he called Red Indians. The story of the film is obviously inspired by the ancient conflicts between the aborigines and the white colonists, and repackaged as a futuristic saga. The rituals and motifs used by the denizens of Pandora probably represent all those ancient races that have been at the receiving end of the plundering, pillaging, destructive, and self-serving tendencies of the ambitious, consumerist, and supercilious white race for centuries of human existence.

I am actually adding a lot of gravitas to this story by such description and by tracing the genesis of the idea to the history of civilisations. The fact is it is a typical sci-fi film made by a big Hollywood studio with a hackneyed plot, driven by stereotypical contrasting, black and white characterisations of do-gooders and villains. It uses the existing CGI, animation, and motion capture techniques without exploring new frontiers. Its 3D rendition is the only technological feat worth a mention since it has not been done before on such a large scale. It is a visually stunning piece of work like any other that has come out of the Hollywood factory in the last fifteen years starting with the path-breaking Jurassic Park. It neither surprises you nor fills you up with that enlivening and ennobling sense of amazement at an awe-inspiring discovery -- the least a film that has been in the making for the last fifteen years should have done.

Contrary to what many early watchers made me believe, the film does not borrow heavily from our mythology. The title Avatar and the use of bows and arrows by the Pandorians, their blue hue, the Vaishnava mark on their foreheads, their affinity to the ancient and sacred banyan tree, and their long Hanuman-like tail give us that false impression. Thank Lord Shri Rama that Mr. Cameron has left our mythology untouched and incorporated shamanistic and animistic elements, more reminiscent of the Red Indian and African tribal rituals and traditions, in a crude, careless, and commonplace kind of way to prop up his mediocre tale and spectacular 3D show.

Indian filmmakers should be pleased that their mythological, spiritual, and cultural heritage has remained largely untouched by Hollywood. A day will surely come when they can use these treasured heirlooms to make magnificent films that will mesmerize and sweep the world cinema audiences off their feet.

Avatar is a story of good vs. evil. Those who live in tune with nature in an organic and holistic way are good and beautiful. That is the nature of the people of Pandora. One of their clans is known as Navi. For them, nature is like mother that nourishes them. But they are up against the forces of the evil earthlings, the white American invaders, who want a precious mineral that lies deep under the Pandorian soil, and which has become critical to the survival of their own planet. The invaders want to lay their hands on it somehow, persuading the Navi through diplomatic means or brute and overwhelming military might. They have also gone ahead and cloned Navi men and women in their labs using human DNA with the intention of deploying the laboratory Navis, who are called Avatars, as spies, plants, or well-meaning missionaries to convince the Navi clan to give way to their mining activities.

All those involved with the project are not bad. Among them is a female scientist, her bearded aid, a funny biologist, a female Hurricane pilot, and a paraplegic US marine. On the other side of the axis is a warmonger of an Army General, a bald-headed trigger-happy mercenary soldier, and a smooth-talking, clean-shaven and target-driven corporate top gun of the mining company. They are in charge of the mission and are over-eager to meet their delivery deadlines.

The Navis refuse to give in. One of the Avatars strays into the Navi heartland. He is the one created from the DNA of former US marine Jake Sully who is part of the Pandora mission of earthlings. A beautiful Navi princess Neytiri saves him from an attack by black dog-like creatures. He is apprehended by the Navi warriors for trespassing into their territory as an agent of the bad and ignorant people who pose a threat to the Navi lifestyle and existence. He is presented before the leader of the clan; his good vibes convince the clan that he can be accepted as one of them provided he learns the ways of the clan. The other Navi clone, created out of the DNA of Prof. Sigourney Weaver, has also been accepted by the clan and is active among them as a good missionary.

However, when it comes to the crux, the Navis refuse to give up their land since it nourishes their life and on it stands their sacred banyan tree that connects them to the spirits of their ancestors. The cloned Navis like Jake Sully and Sigourney try to convince the clan that a fight with the earthlings will be futile as they are better equipped and can annihilate the whole clan with their war machine. The Navis don’t listen, distrust and disown the Avatars, and go out and wage a doomed battle, unable to match the firepower of the earthlings with their bows, and arrows and knives. Though the battle is lost, the war is not yet over; the cause is not completely lost. The Navis still have their sacred arch and they retreat to its safety, nursing their wounds, and feeling helpless.

As the earthlings prepare for their final assault on the arch, the cloned Navi Jake Sully, who is already in love with Neytiri, comes to the Navi assembly on a giant and very colourful bird as a saviour and gives a clarion call to all the clans on planet Pandora to unite and fight the invaders. He also seeks the blessings of the spirits of the Navi ancestors and the reigning deity to come to their aid in this moment of mortal crisis and to help their children. The Pandorians unite and wage a war on land and in air, riding their multi-legged multi-eyed horses, and giant flying birds. As they are on the verge of losing the war yet again, the holy spirits come to their aid. A swarm of giant monstrous beasts descends on the advancing armies of the earthlings and annihilates them while Jake Sully, the cloned Navi, attacks the airborne warship of the war-mongering general with hand grenades and succeeds in destroying it. The general survives to have his last hand-to-hand combat from inside a robotic armour. He is finally killed by Neytiri’s arrow. The marauding villains, the bald-headed soldier and the hardheaded racist general, die violent deaths and the war ends.

The rest of the earthlings are provided a safe passage back home, including the smooth-talking corporate honcho. Prof Sigourney Weaver, the funny biologist, and the sensuous female Hurricane pilot become the casualties of war from among the forces of good. The cloned Navi of Jake Sully, the Avatar, the saviour, stays back, as his soul’s transmigration from his earthly body into his cloned Avatar is accomplished through a shamanistic mass ritual inside the spacious ancient cave under the holy arch. He is now the leader of the Navi clan.

Now sit back, close your eyes, and visualise the scenario described above using scenes and characters of live action and animation films of similar genre as your frame of reference. What you will see in your imagination through your mind’s eyes in all probability will be grander and breathtakingly more spectacular than what Cameron has managed to deliver.

This is where lies the catch. Cameron has failed to transcend the rich, fertile, and amply nurtured imagination of his audience in terms of the film’s visual splendour and spectacle. They are not surprised, overawed, wonderstruck, and amazed by Avatar. It is neither a magical nor a marvellous experience for them. They may sympathise with the simplistic Green message he wishes to deliver, but if that is all he has achieved as an artist and technician after having lived with the idea for fifteen years, it is a huge failure.

And all those background stories of developing a new language and a whole new eco-system of Pandora mean nothing to the film’s global audience. It is impossible to keep track of strange names, scientific terms, and the Navi mumbo-jumbo. Cameron’s hard painstaking work can probably be useful in developing a comic book series around the imaginary Pandora and Avatar, the saviour, the greedy exploiters, the self-serving earthlings and the intergalactic wars over Pandora’s rich mineral reserves.

The marketing wizards of big Hollywood studios will gradually build a franchise around the series and commercially exploit it in every possible way, developing computer games, making sequels of the film, and merchandising toys, costumes, headgears, jewellery, bows and arrows, and assorted paraphernalia, and building themed attractions as vacation destinations. They are so good at this.

They are also good at trivialising big ideas and interpreting them in a cheap sort of way. They are like Avatar’s warmonger of a general and the suave and wily corporate guy, who look at the Pandoran earth as a source of precious mineral, and fail to understand how it sustains an entire eco-system. Cameron used the Sanskrit word Avatar without comprehending its true import. According to the Hindu tradition the Avatar appears to restore the organic, natural, and divine balance of the universe. Cameron's Avatar is a pedestrian machine gun-wielding humanoid, who wins a war by using his hand grenade throwing skills.

While Cameron explores the three dimensions of the idea, he misses the fourth essential one, the Indian dimension, and churns out a typical Hollywood studio film of sci-fi genre, which may break a few long-held box-office records but nothing more. It will not go into the annals of cinema as a landmark film.