Avatar

The other week I went with the youth club to see the film ‘Avatar’ which looks set to strike gold at the Oscars this year. At a rumoured cost of $500m it is a spectacular 3D exploration of our relationship to nature.

Set in the future, an inter-galactic mining company is digging up a planet to get at it’s mineral deposits. Whilst the company claims to want the best for the local population, it’s private army and armour plated excavators tell a different story.

The film introduces us to a paradise world in which the local population communicate with their ancestors through the trees and with animals by linking their minds and uniting their wills. This includes the ability to fly through floating mountains on the backs of pterodactyls and in 3D that is quite a ride!

Meanwhile, the private army cannot breath the same air and seem able to bond only with machines and terrifying robot soldiers. It all comes to a head when the richest mineral deposit is found underneath a gigantic tree where one of the tribes has it’s ancestral home.

Now I won’t tell you any more because you should really go and see it for yourself. If, however, your recollection of 3D films is of those funny green and red glasses that didn’t really work, then think again. I found myself gripping the seat to stop myself falling and batting away floating objects that seem to have drifted out of the film and into the cinema. All in all, this is a film which offers a stimulating perspective and I’m not just talking about the special effects.