Why I love Star Wars: Episode VI

And now we come to the finale. I was born in 1981 and this film came out in 1983, so it's the first Star Wars movie released in my lifetime. I don't remember actually seeing it in the theater, but I remember that Star Wars was everywhere. Everyone knew what an Ewok was even though the name is never spoken in the actual film. Everyone was playing with lightsabers and trying to imitate Darth Vader's deep tones. My sister and I would wear my parents' oversized t-shirts as makeshift costumes and pretend we were Luke and Leia.

Well, enough nostalgia. I still love this movie as an adult, not just because of the fond childhood memories it brings. This is the conclusion of a great saga, and it nicely resolves the conflicts and questions left dangling by previous films. Han is rescued, Luke's parentage is confirmed, he confronts Vader and the Emperor, the Rebellion triumphs over the Empire. It's such a optimistic, life-affirming story. It's not naïve. Evil does exist, and all too often it threatens to overcome us. But we can prevail. Goodness can and should win.

Oh, how I love Han's rescue. It's so subversive that most people don't even recognize it. Leia is the brave hero, boldly charging into the underworld to save her beloved from the clutches of his captor. Han is helpless, at least initially, feeble as a baby as he is reborn. They're living out a fairy tale but the roles have been reversed. How rare is it that we get to see a man playing the part of the vulnerable one needing help? It really transforms Han's character. It doesn't make him weaker by any means. It shows that he is no longer a loner, spurning any kind of connectedness. He has become part of a family, a community of friends, someone who understands the value of forming caring relationships and who is bolstered by those relationships in turn.

And the sequence in Jabba's palace isn't just about romance. It's also about friendship, about Luke and Chewie and Lando and Leia dropping everything else in their lives so they can rescue one man. They've been fighting to restore freedom to the galaxy (or in Lando's case, running an entire city), and they've had heroics on a large scale. But small-scale heroics are no less important. If they didn't bother to save this one man who means so much to them, we would think far less of them as heroes. It's great, too, how they all appear one by one in different guises, keeping us guessing about who's going to show up when and how. The droids as decoys, Leia's bounty hunter disguise, Chewie as her captive, Lando under the mask among Jabba's cronies, and finally Luke's ominous appearance, rife with imagery that hints at his potential darkness.

Jabba the Hutt is a fantastic creation, the very epitome of repulsiveness, greed and excess. If someone made me wear that horrifying metal bikini, I'd want to strangle him too. :P (Ever seen that cartoon of Leia in that humiliating outfit, protesting to a smirking not-Han and not-Chewie (because the real Han and Chewie would never do this) that they rescued her hours ago and should let her change? That fills me with such fury, I can't even express. First of all, SHE rescued HAN. Secondly, he would never demean her like that, and thirdly, if anyone tried to, hah - you don't want to be on the wrong end of Leia's wrath. They just don't get it at all.)

So then we get the build-up for the big final battle. The Emperor shows up in all his cackling evil, and we get a stronger sense of the power play previously established in his one conversation with Vader in Episode V. Luke is set up to be a pawn between them, at least the way the Emperor presents it. Vader's motivations are little more cryptic. But meanwhile, we have Yoda's acknowledgement that he is in fact Luke's father, and that he must confront him to truly become a Jedi. (It would appear that in lieu of a formal trial, dueling with a Sith Lord is a de facto way to ascend from Padawan to Jedi. It worked for Obi-Wan and Anakin, so why not Luke as well? ;) Yoda's death scene is heartrending. Even the ancient master still has weaknesses - a reluctance to admit the shattering truth about Vader, as he tries to avoid the question. Luke acknowledges and apologizes for his own weakness in acting rashly, before he was ready. It's clear that his first confrontation with Vader was a crucible that has changed him greatly - he is more sober-minded, more contemplative and careful. But of course he is still riddled with doubts, and so lonely.

Yet he is bold and unapologetic as he calls out Obi-Wan on the lie about his father. Obi-Wan, I believe, genuinely feels that he told the right amount of truth at the right time. Certainly for him, Anakin had died a long time ago. But he sure has to engage in verbal gymnastics to talk his way out of it. And then we learn Leia is the other Skywalker; at least, if you haven't already seen Episode III. It was never a spoiler for me because I don't remember learning it for the first time. I always knew it, just like I always knew Vader was their father. It feels very mythic to me, the twins separated at birth, their destinies somehow entwined even across galactic distances.

I love everything in the Rebellion battle plans. Mon Mothma - if only we could have had more of her! - Ackbar, delightfully alien yet so earnest and genuine even with a giant fish head, the unexplained tragedy of the Bothan spies, Lando being a fully-dedicated general for the Rebel cause, Han being the leader of the strike force, and all his friends gladly volunteering to serve with him. I just love these characters so much.

Oh, how I love the scene between Luke and Leia on the bridge. Luke knows what he must do, to protect his friends if nothing else, but he knows how hard it will be for Leia. The tantalizing mention of her memories of their mother was, for many years, the only knowledge we had of Anakin's wife. How does she know anything when she was born right before Padmé died? Eh, I don't know. I like to attribute it to some sort of mystic Force power, coupled with her adoptive parents telling her whatever vague things they could safely tell her about her mother.
Leia is heartbroken trying to process all of this. And then Han, showing his maturity, fights back the jealousy that would have previously driven him away, and instead gives Leia the unconditional love she needs.

Luke's connection to Vader has only deepened. He senses him right away on the command ship, and his greatest concern is that he's endangering the mission and his friends. That whole scene is fraught with incredible tension and emotion. They get through to the moon, but it seems it's only because Vader let them. Another trap for Luke? We're left waiting, wondering. We're offered a little hint of the Emperor's blind spot where Luke is concerned, revealed when he is surprised that Vader sensed Luke - "Strange that I have not." He has no inkling of the bond between parent and child. To him, the only relationships that matter are master and apprentice, and enemy versus enemy. This will prove his downfall.

He underestimated the Ewoks as well. I love what they do, thematically, in ROTJ. They are small, with no advanced technology, and thus immediately dismissed. What the Empire never accounted for was that they attacked their home. They don't understand what it means to have your very home threatened, what kind of fire that can light underneath you. And the power of will and courage can't be measured through usual means. Of course it's quite fanciful, even a little silly, to see technological behemoths taken down by rocks and arrows, but it's symbolic of something great. The Rebels don't make the Empire's mistake of disdaining and dismissing the Ewoks simply at face value. They recognize the importance of alliances, of connectedness, of never being too prideful to seek help wherever they can find it. It's symbiance all over again. Working with nature instead of against it. The Emperor, a parasite by nature, never saw that one coming.

It is pretty scary when he springs the trap, though. Any complaints that this attack on a second Death Star seemed too easy, too pat a solution, are addressed by the idea that the Emperor made it that way on purpose to lure them in. And while the large-scale struggle between Imperial and Rebel ships rages outside, he focuses on the deeply-personal battle for Luke's soul.

Does Vader give any signs of his own inner conflict? Out loud, he denies it, but little slips here and there indicate otherwise. On Endor's moon, he responds to Luke's pleas with sharpness, showing he's truly rattled. And why wouldn't he be? When Luke says "Come with me," he must see a shadow of Padmé's face saying similar words. And at the last he declares, not that he doesn't want to return to the good side, but that it is too late for him. As Luke is led away, Vader is left alone. In a bit of extraordinary non-verbal acting from David Prowse, we can guess at the turmoil hiding behind the mask.

Then, on the Death Star, Luke continues to plead, refusing to fight. He's not impervious to the Emperor's taunts. He struggles, occasionally lashing out, but mostly on the defensive. It is only when Vader probes and discovers the secret Luke most wanted to hide that his rage flares up. It would have made sense to Vader. Fear for his loved ones drew him to the Dark Side, why not the same for Luke? The moment with Luke's blade hovering at Vader's throat is heart-wrenching. He's so close. He's at the verge of the path his father followed. And then he sees the stub of Vader's mechanical hand - clenches his own - and everything becomes clear. He tosses away his weapon. He honors his father, the Jedi, and repudiates everything in opposition to that. He's already won. Of course we don't want Luke to die, but better that than the shackles of the Dark Side. He's so heroic here, so at peace, I can't help but cheer every time I watch it.

Anakin's reemergence is, of course, the crowning moment. Again some great non-verbal acting here, as he looks from his son to Palaptine and back for those excruciating moments of indecision, until he steps forward to save his son and save his own soul in the process.

It is never too late. It's always better not to choose darkness in the first place, of course, and better to turn back early if you do, but never, never give up. Luke's unrelenting hope is the crux of the story, the backbone of their victory. What a powerful scene between him and his unmasked father. "I've got to save you." "You already have. Tell you sister...you were right." Whoever would have guessed the bombast of the Imperial March would convert to a soft, mournful dirge? Perfection.

Leia and Han are stronger than ever. The "I love you" "I know" that echoes the one in Episode V is a great indicator of their deepening relationship. It's not a desperate and dramatic confession; it's a comfortable assurance of what they both already know. And when Han still isn't sure where he stands because of Luke, his willingness to step aside is wonderful. True unselfishness is crucial for their relationship to work, and Han has shown he has it. It's fun to see his realization and relief, of course.

After that, we have a beautiful wordless finish. The funeral pyre, the rising flames and Luke's serious but peaceful face always give me goosebumps. Then the celebration, the unapologetic joy and glee at a galaxy finally made free again. Friends draw close together, the spirits of loved ones past are watching, and the music soars into the triumph of the Star Wars march. Maybe I'll just go back and watch them all again. It's a galaxy I never want to leave.