A Thousand Stars: Episode V, Part 43

[matril]

So Luke has escaped Vader's clutches, both literally and spiritually...but also he's dangling from a flimsy metal vane, so let's not relax just yet. He calls for Ben, but his old master already warned him he wouldn't be able to help. So what does Luke try next? Reaching out to Leia.

It's a curious thing, the way the Force can form bonds across vast distances. How do you portray that with visuals? With very particular editing and framing. Cut from Luke to the Falcon, where everything and everyone is in desperate motion, planning their final escape from Bespin...except for Leia. Slowly the camera pans to center her, in stark contrast to all that is around her. Stock still, focused on something no one else can sense. A cut back to Luke, then Leia again, and we understand their mystic connection, as real as the physical hug they share after his rescue.

But there are other bonds. Vader calls to Luke, and Luke cannot help but respond. Father, he says, without hesitation. His conscious brain may deny it, but his deepest self knows it. Lots of great face-acting to make this sequence work. Even, somehow, from a masked Vader.

Next time, a bittersweet finish...

Comments

[krpalmer]

While I hope this doesn't come across as a boast, I suppose I'm among the youngest of "those who were waiting for 'Episode VI.'" (If that helped me from winding up among the people disdaining Return of the Jedi in the 1990s, maybe that's something.) I also suppose I was young enough at the time my parents didn't think I should see The Empire Strikes Back, making do with adaptations instead. I do wonder if Luke saying "Father" would have done something with what I recall as uncertainty as to whether Darth Vader was really Luke's father... I have seen comments that George Lucas was intent on making the family connection undeniable in Return of the Jedi, although I can go "inside" the story and contemplate Luke's motivation when pressing Yoda for an answer.