The man behind Darth Vader

The author, 14, will be a high school junior at the St. Joseph’s Academy in Las Piñas City this schoolyear. Obviously, she is an avid fan of the Star Wars series. She’s a bookworm who loves writing and watching movies, especially those of the Star Wars genre (Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, etc.). She’s the daughter of Bong and Shirley Pizarro (assistant entertainment editor of Manila Bulletin).

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

So our story begins with the classic text fading into the distant starry sky and that familiar tantananan of the Star Wars theme. Yup, this is it. This is the last of the Star Wars prequels, the Missing Link, where the questions (i.e. What’s with the helmet?), which have been asked for 27 long years, even before our time, will finally be answered.

In Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, it is three years into the clone wars, and we see Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and his apprentice Anakin Skywalker cementing their reputations as legendary warriors by leading numerous victories against the droid forces of General Grievous. After months of separation, Skywalker reunites with his secret wife Senator Padme Amidala and learns that she is pregnant. (Now we know how Luke and Leia came to be.) He is haunted by nightmares of her dying in childbirth, just as he was with visions of his mother’s death just before it happened. Only this time, Anakin will do everything in his power, and even things beyond it, to keep his terrifying dream from turning into reality.

The film oozes with action, accompanied by the low "zzzz" of the lightsaber. Rides on starships and space vehicles will keep you on the edge of your seat, especially with Anakin driving. A considerable number of rather important characters die in this one. There is also a touch of humor here and there, but don’t expect it to be much of a comedy.

Episode III, more than anything, is the story of the tragedy that is Darth Vader. Anakin Skywalker is the Jesus, so to speak, of this fictitious galaxy. Sure, the Jedi is quite headstrong and isn’t very good at resisting temptation, but the point is that he was the Messiah, the hope of this galaxy, but he fell into darkness. Just imagine how different history would be if Jesus decided He didn’t want to die on the cross. We’d all go straight to hell, and that, pretty much, is the intensity of Darth Vader’s becoming. His succumbing to the dark side of the Force is thoroughly explained, and is surprisingly not as sudden (yes, it began long before we noticed it) and as irrational (well, maybe not entirely irrational) as I had expected.

Anakin didn’t just wake up one day and say, "Hey, I want to become a Sith Lord!" He crossed over one little seemingly petty step at a time. He began with emotions – things that we, too, feel – and made decisions blinded by the desires of his deceitful heart. This escalated to more and more mistakes, lacking the guidance of his mentor and dominated by wrong principles and priorities. One man who made bad decisions out of good intentions that resulted in grave consequences is the core of it all. He set off a chain reaction that led to the fall of the Galactic Republic and, ultimately, the Revenge of the Sith.

This is the one Star Wars film that can actually be understood by a person who has never heard of Star Wars. If we choose to look beyond the jumping Jedi and the larger-than-life technology, we will see a very human story. Anakin’s story is one of love, fear and mistakes; of trying to "fix" things by taking matters into one’s hands and ending up with a mess much worse than before. In many ways, his story is also our story, and this much heart is something we almost never expect to find (and almost never do) in a science-fiction movie.

Episode III: Revenge of the Sith might surprise you, thrill you, make you laugh, or make you sad, even to the point of making you cry. Nonetheless, I guarantee that it will be one heck of a ride.