A Thousand Stars: Episode II, Part 25

[matril]

Following Watto's information, Anakin and Padmé end up at a homestead that's very familiar to us. We get a nice wide shot, and then we follow them going down the stairs with a pan down.




But while these scenes might evoke a cozy feeling for the audience, Anakin is filled with misgivings. He doesn't know these people, aside from the fact that his mother ended up in terrible distress after coming here.




What could have been a happy family reunion is instead rife with tragic uncertainty. I appreciate that Lucas, when using the original homestead set (which was still mostly intact in Tunisia after 20+ years!) didn't just fall back on winking, heavy-handed references to play on the viewers' nostalgia. The tone isn't pandering; it's serious and provides crucial elements to move the plot forward and inform Anakin's characterization. If it evokes anything from Episode IV, it's the moment when Luke finds the homestead burned and his beloved foster parents lost forever.

On that cheerful note, get ready for more foreboding images next time....

Comments

[krpalmer]

Your comment about "winking, heavy-handed references" brings a few thoughts of my own to mind, but I can suppose that trying to see if they match yours might not be altogether healthy. I should just move on to a thought that "from a certain point of view" this could be a hypothetical introduction to the homestead; the question there is how the hypothetical viewer would then react in Episode IV...

Mentioning the "pan down" reminds me I've seen comments that shot had to be done with special effects; the "crater interior" is in a different place in Tunisia than the "crater rim" and it was a matter of cutting between those locations in Episode IV.

[matril]

Oh, that's interesting about the pan down! It's definitely worth considering how the Episode II scenes would be experienced differently if a first-time viewer watched the prequels first. Very different kids of feelings evoked...