Having heard and saw the hype around this new movie entitled Avatar, I decided it was high time for me to watch it and at the same time, have a taste of 3D for the first time. The movie owes its grandeur to the fantasy world it presents despite the predictable plot. I can see how the movie appeals the audience. The creators of this movie put in a tremendous effort in showcasing every minute detail of this whole new world that they single-handedly created a whole new culture, complete with a whole new language and ecosystem.

                They practically produced the same effect Tolkien’s Middle Earth had on those who read his book and saw the movie adaptation of it even though neither side had the same creatures and all. In addition to that, Avatar exemplified escapism at its best; to be able to leave behind any weaknesses and tap into a whole new body and world, be a hero and find a sense of belonging. The only thing I was disappointed at was my inability to neither feel nor see the difference between 3D and a normal version of it. I blame it on my one sightedness.

                Certainly the ecology of Pandora was intriguing, with every single creature lighting up at a mere disturbance of a touch and the ability to physically link with nature herself. But what made held me the most was the anguish and despair of the Na’vis when the plants and trees regarded highly by them were destroyed. The first thing that crossed my mind was the Penans and the other tribes in Sarawak and their demise. In a way, Avatar was a remarkable piece of movie that retells the current fate of the Penans though in a more romanticized and dramatized manner.

                As much as I would like to say I’m a jungle boy at heart, I have not spent enough time with nature to proclaim myself so but I do know what it feels like to have the nature or home you call dear to be destroyed to development. Whenever I returned to my father’s hometown, the foot of the mountain was my playground with my cousins and uncles. The stream was my swimming pool, I was even told off by my mother for swimming in it in my pyjamas. As I grew older the stream’s condition worsened, as with the jungle around it. It was polluted with insecticide, and on my last visit, it wasn’t even a stream anymore; it could hardly hold 3 adults. In a way, I was sad, almost as if I’ve lost a dear friend; a friend who would put me at ease whenever I visited it. That’s a part of my childhood gone to be frank.

                Nature especially when untouched has never failed to soothe my heart and it always seem so mysterious to me in its own ways, be it the jungle, river, sea or even the sky. To my delight and surprise, Avatar presented the plants as keepers of memories and information, a perception which I have held for quite awhile. I would run my hands along the bark of a tree and ask “What have you seen during your lifetime?” almost as if hoping for an answer. On every occasion that I see a tree is fell, it crushes me to think all those memories that tree might have is being thrown away for humanity.

                And every time I see a hill being cleared in the name of development, it punctures a hole in my heart and every single time that emotion is invoked, I ask myself, “Is this a genuine feeling or is it superficial, fabricated to make yourself feel like a nature boy?”

                Having been away from Malaysia, I yearned to jump into a river again, to allow its water to flow against my body, to climb another mountain and look over the earth from its summit and to float with the waves of the sea. Avatar amplified those feelings by a factor of 100, maybe even more. Perhaps the scarcity of greenery here compared to the lush jungles in Malaysia was not befitting to my eye.

                Avatar also reminded me of the reason I chose not to stay in the US my entire life, which is, to fight for what is right and to help fix and alleviate my country from the plague that beleaguers her. As much as I hold negative thoughts on what my country contains, I could not bear to only watch and let her live with such atrocities and do nothing about it. I feel that it is my responsibility to contribute towards the betterment of my country.

                Such sentiments do sound plastic to some but this is how I really feel all this while. And yeah, Avatar was a pretty good movie.