Monday 5 July 2010

Star Wars [* * * * * *]

"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away ..." nearly 35 yrs ago the story of a young Jedi trainee rocked the world. It was a story of heroism, a David vs the Goliath Empire. One of the best movies ever made, without doubt.

The following generations had the other 5 episodes of Star Wars - the Clone Wars and the Revenge of the Sith, but we had the original with the tai chi philosophy of flowing with the Life Force around one's self.

Our first Star Wars: A New Hope was based on two of the famous Japanese director Akira Kurosawa's post-war movies called The Hidden Fortress and Seven Samurai (also made as the Dirty Dozen). Japan had lost all its identity during americanized reconstruction and these movies did a lot to remind them of their 1000 yr old civilization. The first few scripts were an exact reproduction of The Hidden Fortress, except that it was in a galaxy far, far away, but later revisions changed it considerably to the polished adventure that it became.

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