owenrees

I saw this movie in the cinema when it was first released and from the very beginning it was impressive. The opening set the tone - a spaceship is seen running away from a pursuer and then the ship following it appears and just keeps on getting bigger until it fills the whole screen and you finally see the engines at the back. The scale was far beyond anything else I had seen.

The cantina scene was also memorable with the alien band not being overdone and the character of Han Solo being established as rather doubtful as one to associate with.

The revised versions added filler in various places that did not add to the story at all. In many ways they undermined the sense of bleakness and despair that should have been seen as what you would expect in a remote outpost of a ruthless empire.

I wish I could get hold of a copy of the original version to revisit my first experience but that does not seem possible.

I first saw this movie many years ago on television and I remember being very moved by it.

The simplicity of the action and the dispassionate narration meant that it had to rely on the strength of the plot and the underlying messages.

Jack London wrote several stories about the perils of the frozen North. This movie captures the essence of this story without having to resort to gimmicks or tricks. The bleakness of the environment and its hostility to humans emerges from the landscape and the simple narrative.

The underlying lessons are still very relevant today. The fate of the man is in his own hands at the start but as the story unfolds we see that it is his belief in his own abilities that ultimately leads to the final outcome.