Star Wars: A New Hope

Fox Video and LucasFilm

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, George Lucas said: "I will create a cult classic". Well, I'm sure that's not exactly what this director had in mind when he was filming the much beloved film Star Wars: A New Hope. In fact, Star Wars had trouble getting showings in theaters.

Star Wars: A New Hope takes place in a galaxy far, far away, where an evil Empire has taken control of the planets. A small underground rebellion is looking to overthrow the Empire and restart the government. Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) puts technical readouts of a threatening Empire "Death Star" into a little robotic droid, R2-D2, before she is captured.

Through a turn of events, R2 and his counterpart, C-3PO end up with a young farmboy named Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). Luke is then mentored under an ex-Jedi Knight named Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness). The two, along with the droids, enlist the help of self-centered pilot Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and his partner Chewbacca. This unlikely band must come together to save Princess Leia from being terminated and the entire rebellion being struck down by the Empire.

There are a few scenes that are my favorite. My first favorite scenes are any with Luke in the beginning. He is a whiny little kid and since I've seen the rest of the series, it is cool to see him transform to whiny kid who wants "to go into Tashee station to pick up some power converters" to calm, cool, collected Jedi Knight.

One scene that kind of encompasses the feel of the film is when Han Solo is running after a horde of Stormtroopers in the hallway, yelling his head off. I don't know why I like this part so much. I think because that is what it feels like in most action movies, but in this instance, the filmmakers just overexaggerated everything, making it hilarious.

In fact, I like all the scenes with Han Solo in them. The character is so greedy, and yet so charismatic. I think it's because the audience can see the man underneath the exterior, who is capable of caring about a cause and people, although everything he does says the contrary.

The film is for kids, so why do adults like it so much? For one, they grew up with it. For two, it is a film that is light-hearted fare on the outside, but becomes something much deeper as the movies go on, eventually becoming an examination of the nature of good and evil and what makes someone one or the other.

This is in my Top 20 favorite movies, if only for nostalgic purposes.

A Clockwork Orange

A Clockwork Orange was very controversial when it first came out, and remains controversial to this day. A young teen named Alex runs amok in futuristic Britain with his droogs. Alex is the leader of his droogs and roams through the streets at night, letting his violent and sexual nature off of its leash, not caring who he hurts in the process. Then, one fateful night, Alex accidentally kills a woman while trying to violate her. His droogs turn on him and the police throw him in jail. His violent nature doesn’t go away in prison, but Alex learns to hide it. Then, he undergoes a process that will “cure” him of his badness: the Ludovico treatment. Alex does the treatment, but it robs him of his free will, making him mechanical human, a “clockwork orange”. This movie brings up an important question: is choosing to be bad better than being forced to be good?

A Clockwork Orange was very hard for me to watch for two reasons: the dehumanization of Alex’s victims and how evil Alex was. But, as Kubrick does in all his movies, he lets the audience feel sympathy for the main character, who in this case is a horrendous person that has done bad things to other people. Alex is called a “victim of the modern age” when his own victims could also be called that as well. Kubrick completely shies away from what Alex’s victims were going through, as if they don’t matter as much as what Alex is going through. Kubrick has a habit of giving us characters that are horrible people, but he gives us reasons to sympathize with them. I’ve seen quite a few of Kubrick’s films, and the main characters are mostly males who would normally be classified as an antagonist instead of a protagonist in a movie.

The scene that stuck with me the most was the rape scene near the beginning. I know it was supposed to shock the viewer, but it was so hard for me to watch. It was so intense that I actually shed a few tears and stopped the movie for a while.

Kubrick was known for having great attention to detail and doing many takes of a scene. He was a perfectionist who knew what he wanted from his actors and the rest of the people working on the movie. His sets are always very elaborate and could actually pass for a real life place. His movies have surreal qualities to them, while retaining grains of truth and questioning the nature of humanity as it is in the present. His movies can be dated by the older camera tints, but not by their themes. Kubrick’s films continue to speak to people through their timeless questions and will continue to do so in years to come.