A Thousand Stars: Episode II, Part 42

[matril]

After a conversation between Obi-Wan, Yoda and Bail tells us how Luke and Leia end up with their respective foster parents (as well as an exchange with Captain Antilles about the droids) we are done with dialogue for the movie. The remainder of the film tells a superb visual story. From Threepio's alarmed reaction we transition to a somber evening on Naboo. It's a world whose lush green and abundant water have always evoked the senes of life and vibrancy, but now as dusk closes in, the water carries instead the symbolism of dark, inescapable sleep.

After a first glimpse of Padmé with a vast backdrop of mourners, we are shown those who knew her well, one by one. (Granted, some faces will be more familiar if you've seen the Episode II deleted scenes of Padmé's family. But you can intuit their identity well enough.) Family, dignitaries, the entire planet has apparently come to say farewell to a beloved leader. Except, of course, the one closer to her than any other.

He is present, though, in a sense. In the token she carries into death. In the children whose survival must be hidden, above everything else, from their own father. Note how the japor snippet lingers through the screen transition to the very last moment, till it is swallowed up by the brutish Imperial forces.

Next, despair and hope...

Comments

[krpalmer]

So far as dialogue goes I've thought one exchange tucked in between the two you describe to be significant, namely Yoda revealing Qui-Gon's survival in the Force... Of course, there's the reality of "Liam Neeson couldn't be convinced to provide a voiceover himself," but I'll admit to having thought that had that been included in the movie where it showed up in the "extended script" in the "Art of" book (right before Bail tells a meditating Yoda Obi-Wan has arrived) it would have been a distraction of sorts from the drive of dissolution in the larger plot at that point. (I can at least imagine Qui-Gon's revelation "actually" happened after Padme's death, matching how in the movie itself it begins to lift spirits.) As for Padme's family getting on screen at last, I do find myself thinking of the early Luke scenes not included in the actual Episode IV that "everyone" was familiar with anyways from the print, storybook, and comic book adaptations, and that without having paid anywhere near as much attention to "Episode II adaptations"... I think I've seen the deleted scenes on DVD, anyway.)