Greetings! Today I continue my journey through Star Wars. Last week I began with Episode II and Anakin’s failure to keep to his integrity. This week, I’ve taken a look at Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and guess what I’ve found? A Catholic Sacrament!
Well, sort of. There’s actually a ton of material here for reflection (how the devil lies, pro-life, how evil can look good, the dangers of relativism, etc.), but today I’ll just focus on Jedis going to confession, and the sad reality that we can’t all just get along after all…
Bam! Fshwoon! VVMMMMM! KSCHHH! “Good… Kill him”
The movie dives into the middle of the action and immediately connects to the end of the last movie by starting with a battle against Count Dooku. This time Anakin seems willing to swallow his pride and work with Obi-Wan, but he blows it when he boasts of doubling his power. Even if he has doubled his power, we can appreciate the prophetic words of count Dooku:
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| “Good. Twice the pride, double the fall.” |
As we said last time, it is this damnable pride of his that finally leads him to embrace the dark side.
Yet, Anakin is in fact more powerful and rather quickly out-duels Dooku even without Obi-Wan’s help. The deciding blow comes when Anakin cuts off both of Dooku’s hands. The way that the movie so clearly depicts the cutting off both hands tells me the director wanted viewers to see this as a kind of retaliation by Anakin who had lost one hand to Dooku earlier. Despite the fact that he has more than gotten his revenge, Anakin is unable to calm his passion, succumbs to the tempting influence of Palapatine, and cuts off the head of an unarmed (literally!) man who had already lost. He rightly realizes “I shouldn’t have done that, Chancellor. It’s not the Jedi way.” The guilt on his face is palpable. At this moment, I must admit, I instantly thought: “Man, he should probably go to confession! He can’t let this guilt go unrepented!” And wouldn’t you know it, he almost did…
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| “Forgive me Master, for sinned I have.” |
I doubt the director thought this way, but the somber mood, the dark room, the narrow slits of light filtering in, and the conversation with a spiritual leader all made me think of confession. Of course, Anakin isn’t confessing his sins; he’s just seeking advice regarding his dreams. Nonetheless, some of his error comes out in the conversation about attachment and, like any good confessor, Yoda counsels him on how to overcome this defect. Yoda’s reply is “Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force. Mourn them, do not. Miss them, do not. Attachment leads to jealousy. The shadow of greed, that is.” When Anakin asks what he should do, Yoda replies “Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose”
There is some great wisdom in Yoda’s teaching here, but there are some flaws too… His analysis of attachment–>Jealousy–>Greed is apt because these vices are closely connected. In fact, his prediction is correct because Anakin’s jealousy for Padme’s life leads him to greedily seek power in the Dark Side and this greed in turn becomes so strong that he turns on the very person he was attached to.
But how could he detach from his wife? This goes back to his difficulty in the second movie when he and Padme discuss a Jedi’s promise to be detached and his mission to be compassionate. Anakin misunderstands these two things and literally argues that his command to be compassionate is somehow a command to become attached. He falls into this trap because he misuses the word “love.” In his mind, “love” = attachment to something. In reality, love and attachment are not identical. In fact, in Greek, there are four different words for Love and some of them have different meanings. There is such a thing as “attachment-love” or “affection” (it’s not always bad, but it’s not always good either). But there is another, deeper kind of love. This is the kind of Love Jedi (and Christians!) are supposed to have. It is love that means “wanting what is best for the one you love.” In Padme’s case, Anakin had the difficult (and failed) task of recognizing that his affection is not what was best for her. Once he was married to her, he needed to realize that even marriage is not the end all, be all of life – just about any married couple can tell you that. In the end, he was more “in love with” how she made him feel than with what was best for her. This is the irony of sin, his greed and jealousy actually end up causing the very thing he was most afraid of.
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| “Can’t you tell how much I love you!” |
BUT, Yoda’s advice misses an important distinction too. He says not to mourn or miss someone when they die, but this is not a Christian view of human relationships. Even though we are “detached” from others in a way, we also have real connection to them and a concern for them. To prove my point I give you two examples from Jesus’ Christ own life:
Jesus rebuking people who are going nuts over a dead girl:
Mk 5:38-40 “When they came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, he saw a tumult, and people weeping and wailing loudly. And when he had entered, he said to them, ‘Why do you make a tumult and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.’ And they laughed at him. But he put them all outside”
Jesus Weeping:
Jn 11:34-36 “Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus wept. So the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!”
In the first example, Jesus rebukes them because they are making too big a commotion about something that is not actually final. She is “not dead but sleeping.” This is similar to Yoda’s point that we should rejoice for those in the afterlife (assuming they’re in heaven and not hell of course ;-)) But, unlike Yoda, Jesus recognizes that there is such a thing as appropriate mourning. We miss people, ts part of being human. We should be honest with our humanity and suffering, but without making a big to-do as if the world has ended. Thus, we uphold both the Truth (death is not the end) and Love (we really do care about others).
Ultimately, Anakin’s “confession” fails him because he is not actually contrite. He lacks the integrity to own up to everything he’s done wrong and won’t ask for help because of his pride and attachment. When he later tries to follow Yoda’s advice and be detached while Mace Windu goes to confront Palpatine, his earlier lack of integrity leaves him too weak to resist. He desperately rushes to help Palpatine and finally chooses one side over the other: the Dark Side.
Once Anakin has let go of any semblance of Jedi loyalty, he goes all the way to slaughtering the innocent without mercy. Obi-Wan tries to confront him one last time in the Mustafar system. After force-choking his own wife (and child), he turns to Obi-Wan who is still trying to convince him to reject evil. Anakin’s obsession with power has blinded him to what he’s become so that he can no longer tell the difference between good and evil. The lens of this particular scene makes it very clear to the viewer should interpret everything Anakin says as the twisted lie that it is. While the two debate, the camera switches between their faces. In the background for Anakin is lava and darkness, in the background of Obi-Wan is the nearby sun breaking through the clouds (they’re also wearing black and white, respectively).
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| “I will do what I Must!” |
Despite his efforts to tell Anakin that it is Anakin’s own actions, not Obi-Wan’s influence, that has lost Padme, Anakin refuses to believe him. When faced with someone who is obstinate in their wickedness, no persuasion will work. When a virtuous man is faced with the unreasonable aggression of a wicked man, he is right to resist him. Men have an amazing capacity to stubbornly cling to what is evil. In such a situation, the most loving thing a good man can do for the wicked is resist him. Unlike a priest, a Jedi is also in some ways a soldier, a defender of the innocent. Obi-Wan was also given a specific order which he should obey. A Christian, and especially a priest, ought to not only resist the wicked man in his witness to the Truth, but also willingly accept death in imitation of Christ. A man charged with the defense of others, however, is doing a righteous thing in fighting back (consider that Jesus and John the Baptist never told roman soldiers not to fight). The modern world sometimes talks as if we can resolve everything with words and niceness, but this movie gives a good depiction of when that fails. Modern events like Paris also reminds us, the Good man ought to resist… he should do what he must!
In the end, Obi-Wan fulfills Dooku’s prophecy and even exceeds it. Anakin’s first fall to to pride (via Dooku) lost him one arm. His second fall to pride (via Obi-Wan) costs him another arm, but also two legs. Twice the pride… three times the pride, three times the fall.
That’s all for now, farewell my friends. I’ll see you again with Episode IV. In the meantime, go to confession!