Disappointing return

Disappointing return

I would like to comment on the Star Wars Special Edition film,
now playing nationwide. I did not like the way the movie was
edited and I would like to share this with your readers.

I saw the movie at the BIP 21 theater at Bandung Indah Plaza,
Bandung. I was a little bit disappointed, not because I was
expecting more than a rereleased 1977 movie but because of the
way the movie was edited.

My first complaint concerns scene cutting. As a die-hard Star
Wars fan who had watched the original movie more than 10 times, I
am pretty sure that these scenes existed in the original movie. I
do not know who is responsible for this.

Some of the scenes cut were:

* The scene where Darth Vader, accompanied by two Imperial
Commandos and an Interrogation Droid, enter Princess Leia's cell
to interrogate her. This scene is not very vital, but without it
Vader's opinion that "her resistance to the interrogation was
remarkable" in a later scene seems odd.

* The scene depicting the arrival of Luke Skywalker, Ben (Obi-
Wan) Kenobi and the two droids (C3-PO and R2-D2) to the Mos
Eisely spaceport and their encounter with checkpoint guards
(Imperial Sand Stormtroopers) in which Ben Kenobi demonstrates
his use of the force. Without these scenes, Luke's comment that
he "did not know how they could get past the troops" in the next
scene seems odd.

But the worst damage inflicted by this editing is that the
audience does not get the chance to see one of the new scenes
introduced exclusively for the release of Star Wars: A huge
creature used as transport.

* The scene where an Imperial Officer reported to Governor Tarkin
that the Princess had lied to them (the Dantooine base had been
deserted for some time). Without this scene, Tarkin's decision to
terminate the Princess in the next scene seems groundless.

My second complaint, and I believe this is more important, is
the very bad quality of the Indonesian subtitles. Sometimes the
subtitles are out of sync with the scenes, and the translation is
so bad it showed either the lack of English proficiency of the
translator, the lack of knowledge the translator has about Star
Wars, or a simple lack of attention. As I said, I am a "veteran"
of this movie and remember almost every line.

In a time when most movies are not suitable to children (too
much sex, violence and profanity), the rerelease of Star Wars
should have been a breath of fresh air. This movie (although
perhaps not very state-of-the-art and the acting is not very
good) managed to blend enough action and adventure without
relying on much violence or sex (the only kisses in this movie
are Princess Leia's two pecks on Luke's cheek). Too bad these
errors mar this fine movie.

If The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi are to be
screened here, I hope much more attention will be paid to avoid
the errors found in this movie. For someone who grew up with
Luke, Han, Leia, Chewie, Vader and the droid, such errors hurt.

IWAN SETYAWAN

Bandung, West Java