Avatar

I recently went to see the movie Avatar. I had no idea what it was going to be about but I ended up really enjoying it! Behind all of the 3D effects and stunning graphics is a great movie. However, hit a little too close to home for me...

(The following will not give away the ending, I promise!)

Avatar chronicles the story of Jake Sully, a paralyzed ex-marine who is recruited to be an "avatar-driver" for a mining colony on a distant planet. An avatar is a human-indigenous hybrid that the driver has full control over through a remote connection at the mining colony. Sully's mission is to infiltrate an indigenous community, learn their ways and ultimately convince them to leave their homeland so that the mining company can remove precious minerals from beneath their colony.

The miners don't understand the deep interconnection of all the life forms on the planet. They don't believe that the indigenous community has any dignity- and don't even try to appreciate their rich traditions.

In the end, Sully becomes one of the indigenous people and leads them in a fight for their survival. I'll let you see the movie and fill in the rest of the details for yourself.

Here is why this movie hit a little too close to home for me...

When I was in El Salvador I had the opportunity to visit a community that had been ravaged by the Coca Cola Company. Coke had: built a factory in their community; pumped all of the ground water out of the region; and then closed the factory leaving behind- what had once been a lush forest- an uninhabitable wasteland.

Avatar isn't a completely fictional movie. Multinational Companies are committing the same crimes against indigenous communities here on planet Earth, and they are destroying our planet to make a profit.

In Avatar, Sully stands up to the mining company and helps to organize the indigenous communities in their struggle. Who is going to stand up in the REAL world and do the same thing? Maybe you? Do you have the courage to put your life and reputation on the line for the oppressed?

I hope that everyone gets a chance to see this movie. My prayer is that you can see past the amazing special effects and let the struggle portrayed in the film inspire you to make a difference in THIS world.

Peace turtles!