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