If there's something to admire of George Lucas is his capability as an inventor, his yearning over innovation and dazzling creativity. No one could describe it better than Lucas himself:
“All art is dependent on technology because it's a human endeavour, so even when you're using charcoal on a wall or designed the proscenium arch, that's technology.”
“Everyone seems to think that digital technology devoids the medium of content, but that is not true at all. If anything, it broadens the content.”
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of The Clones, his fifth feature film is in my opinion Lucas' magnum opus as an innovator and filmmaker, and one of (if not the most) misunderstood film of the medium, it is also the first major film to be entirely shot on digital and pioneer such technology. While this created a big controversy on its overall reception, I believe such backlash comes from a lack of knowledge over what Lucas was actually doing. People believe digital cinematography is the same as visual effects (VFX), however VFX have been presented on film pretty much since the beginning as they are not computer generated imagery exclusively, it can range from in-camera tricks (like a dolly zoom) to motion capture. Digital cinematography however changes the whole concept of production of film, we could say it rejects the traditional creation of film entirely. Lucas started working with Sony and Panavision to develop a new type of cameras that on 2001 were ready to start shooting his second Star Wars prequel film, these new cameras developed by Sony and Panavision allowed HD images and video to be recorded on a videotape, this allowed the director to replay a scene immediately after shooting.
This might seem like a small detail nowadays, as we have the commodity to record even on a phone as well as digital cinematography being a more common alternative now. However back in the early 2000s this was a complete game-changer. Originally a piece of motion picture was recorded on film or reel, in order to be ready to be watched a film could take about 24 hours of processing meaning that until the reel is processed it, the only way to visualize a shot is through the camera's tiny monitor. Then digital cinematography made the production of film far more versatile and easier, reducing as well the inherent weariness of reels thus preserving the shots in a more effective well.
Film
Digital cinematography
Another thing Lucas took technology into great advantage was through the usage of previs, while he was not the first to utilize this method instead of storyboards; this is yet another demonstration of what Lucas called a "human endeavor" and demonstrates how he "broadens the content".
Previsualization
Whereas Lucas wasn't the first filmmaker to utilize digital cinematography he was the first to dock it to a larger scale and to extensively demonstrate digital advantages over celluloid, his major contribution was making Hollywood to take it seriously; is not about replacing one over the other but ultimately this offers filmmakers more options to toy with. The more tools a craftsman has at his/her disposal will only amplify the possibilities and reach of the medium, making cinema as limitless as our human capacity allows us.
Of course, innovation doesn't inherently mean that it is put into great use, a tool in hands of someone that doesn't know how to take advantage of it becomes toothless and shallow. However is important to see Lucas not only as an innovator but as a maverick and an auteur. He applies a highly centralized and subjective control to many aspects of his work; to say it in a simpler way he is like the author of a novel. A way to identify an auteur is by looking whether they have a recognizable style or thematic inclination. Lucas shows both, as he is a thematic director pretty much as he is consistent over his style. Since the beginning of his career (more noticeably if you have seen his short films as well) he decants himself towards experimental cinema instead mainstream film. Attack of the Clones is not only his boldest production but is his most experimental as well, however there's a predominant factor in all his films: his interest in technology. And not only in a way of application for the medium but as a thematic as well.
His tone poem "anyone lived in a pretty [how] town" is the perfect example to look at. In this short film Lucas juxtaposes industry and humanism solely by visual expressionism as he relies exclusively on montage to transmit his ideas: machinery is contrasted to nature evoking the same he does later on with THX 1138 and in Attack of the clones. Is a Tarkovskian motif (Solaris is the main example, but I'd argue Ivan's Childhood already displayed a bit of that nature vs machinery through the thematic of war). The meaning of these ideas won't come from written verses but from the juxtaposition of scenery, in Anyone Lived in a Pretty [how]town this montage is sporadic as it is a short film, in Clones Lucas juxtaposes the idea of nature and industry by splitting the plot in two: Anakin and Padmé on one side and Obi-Wan in the other, Naboo is a planet predominated by natural beauty whereas Kamino is shaped over dark overriding tonalities and industry.
Naboo, in which nature and human traits flourish
Kamino, a visually sterile and artificial construction
Is not a coincidence that for Anakin and Padme's segments Lucas opted to shot in location: in Plaza de España, Sevilla (Spain) and Lago di Como, Lombardy (Italy) whereas all the segments of Kamino were shot with epoch's top notch, trendy technology: computed generated imagery. Not only that but Lucas quotes THX 1138 and a Man With a Movie Camera to denote these thematics even further.
A Man With a Movie Camera (1929)
The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)
THX 1138 (1971)
Attack of the Clones (2002)
While these comparisons denote the dehumanizing effects of industry in a completely visual way. The Clones are contrasted among each other and among industries, they aren't given freedom or the right to chose by any means, they are completely brainwashed as they are taken advantage over, that's the reason over why they lack any kind of characterization. What is interesting is how this comparisons run deeper by a simple but effective staging:
There's a clear correlation between these shots: Obi-Wan finds himself in the same spot within the camera but on different locations. He is staged in the same space in these shots, both indicate he is doing the same: looking closely over something that he finds himself above such. In Kamino Obi-Wan is above the Clone Army whereas in Geonosis he is over the Droid Army.
Is a curious detail how Lucas inverted the reaction shots of Obi-Wan: in Kamino the Clones are first to then crop into Obi-Wan while in Geonosis Lucas does the opposite by making the droids appear as the reaction shot, if you notice the angling is also drastic, the shot of the droids is a completely chopped high angle, they are completely lowered. We are not seeing the Droids over our perspective, we are seeing it over Obi-Wan's, is a subjective shot something Lucas shows in very specific occasions and this is one of those: through this he is indicating that Obi-Was perceives the army as inferior, the same is done for the Clone Army only that more subtly.
This same relation between "above and bellow" is established through the sequences of an eccentric Coruscant. It is taken over Lang's Metropolis and Scott's Blade Runner, is a completely futuristic extravaganza.
Metropolis (1927)
Attack of the Clones (2002)
Blade Runner (1982)
Attack of the Clones (2002)
Metropolis like Blade Runner offers a commentary over capitalism in which a society if divided among an upper "sphere" of a city and a lower one. Lucas does the exact same by evoking the aura of Lang and Scott and subtly stating this division, notice for example how when introduced to the Jedi Temple a low angle is used:
On the surface these are the two adversaries of the conflict: Humans vs Droids. Yet these sides couldn't be more alike at the same time, this is noticed by the reaction shots of Obi-Wan, I mentioned prior. Geonosis and Kamino are rather quite alike: both are factories, one of metal and other of flesh, one of so-called intelligent and independent beings and other of brainless and dependent ones. However the Clones are displayed in the same fashion as the droids, all perfectly formed, emotionless, robotic and found beneath someone, they are humans but they lack human characteristics. Lucas stated that he intended the prequels as an allegory to dictatorship: “How do you turn over democracy to a tyrant with applause? Not with a coup, but with applause? That is the story of Caesar, Napoleon, and Hitler.” These comparisons over troops being dehumanized and detached from their own humanity just like droids is a realistic yet devastating panorama, I personally see it as a visual expression of what Chaplin stated in his 1940 film The Great Dictator:
"Our knowledge has made us cynincal
Our cleverness, hard and unkind
We think too much, and feel too little
More than machinery, we need humanity
More that cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness
Without these qualities life will be violent, and all will be lost
Soldiers!
Don't give yourselves to brutes - men who despise you - enslave you - who regiment your lives - tell you what to do - what to think and what to feel!
Who drill you - diet you - treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder
Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men - machine men with machine minds and machine hearts!
You are not machines!
You are not cattle!
You are men!
You have the love of humanity in your hearts!
You don't hate!
Only the unloved hate - the unloved and the unnatural!"
On the flip side of the coin (but part of the same coin), Lucas evokes Anakin and Padme's romance directly from musicals (The Sound of Music), tone poems (Anyone lived in a pretty [how]town) and romantic epics like Doctor Zhivago.
Is quite curious to notice when Sound of Music is referenced, is during the scene where Anakin and Padmé debate dictatorship, Sound of Music starts with an upbeat panorama of Austria right before the arrival of dictatorship. Lucas recreates the same aura of positivity yet skepticism and evolves to a political commentary. Is in this segment where Lucas debates over fascism, people automatically deduce from this scene that Anakin is twisted and that the relationship between him and Padmé would never work. Everyone is ready to jump on the “inherently evil and twisted” bandwagon because a 19 year old man freely voices his personal opinion in a free society. They condemn him without giving him the benefit of doubt. It’s a bias stemming from the fact that they know he’ll be Darth Vader, ergo him supporting dictatorship makes him already guilty of much worse crimes. Just uttering it makes him guilty in almost everyone’s eyes. However, what people fail to see is that an opinion and actually acting on it are two completely different things, Anakin’s perception while flawed doesn’t makes him irremediable in this part of the story, rather a good person with questionable beliefs.
Is contradictory that those who accuse Anakin of being written as a moody teenager vilify him for having a mature and relevant conversation about a sophisticated topic like the political organization of society. Anakin in Attack of the Clones is portrayed with naivety that is typical for his age but also cynicism of a man who has seen too much too soon, is the combination of these two what brings his inner turmoil as well as forms his political perspectives. He’s an idealist who sees the system isn’t working and Padmé sees it as well. When he offers dictatorship as a way of reforming the system, Padmé cannot offer other solution because she doesn’t have one, even though her own belief tells her dictatorship is wrong, and she can only show incredulity.
Anakin didn’t defended dictatorship because he didn’t want to rule the Galaxy himself during this part of the story, but because he sees it as an alternative to a system that has been failing, here is where his cynicism plays a key role: he knows sorrow and the grittiness of life since his earliest years, he doesn't know anything different that slavery and subjugation either to Watto as a slave or to the Jedi; he had left his mother in slavery for what she’d hoped to be his freedom, but he ended up realizing that the politicians he serves are as corrupted and evil as the criminals of Tatooine and yet he couldn’t do anything for his mother neither until it was too late. On the other hand he is way too innocent, he seems to crave following orders if he believes in the cause and thinks he will be used correctly. Which is why he says he shouldn’t lead the galaxy, but "someone wise should", his cynicism and lived experiences opened him to realize that the system wasn't working and his innocence makes him asume that everyone will believe in what he does, and will use power for good. In fact he holds a sincere and noble motive:
"Mom, you said that the biggest problem in the universe is no one helps each other." —Anakin, Phantom Menace
"I don't think the system works, we need a system where all the politicians sit down and discuss the problem, agree what's in the best interest of all the people, then do it." —Anakin, Attack of the Clones
Aristotle himself, who lived in the democratic Athens and is considered to be one of the greatest philosophers of all time, was a passionate advocate of autocracy, which he considered to be the best type of political system, and the rule of a benevolent dictator while he deemed democracy as the worst of all the political systems. The flaw is not in any of the systems, it’s in the people, be it communism, autocracy, democracy, etc. originally they were all noble ideas to help people. However, each time their founders (like Anakin) assumed that the people who would hold the power would be righteous and incorruptible and that was their common mistake because people are greedy and corrupted towards power.
“The idea of a king is to be a protector of the rich against unjust treatment, of the people against insult and oppression. Whereas a tyrant, as has often been repeated, has no regard to any public interest, except as conducive to his private ends; his aim is pleasure, the aim of a king, honor. Wherefore also in their desires they differ; the tyrant is desirous of riches, the king, of what brings honor. And the guards of a king are citizens, but of a tyrant mercenaries.” —Aristotle
“Yes the truth is that men's ambition are among the most frequent causes of deliberate acts of injustice.” —Aristotle
Anyone lived in a pretty [how]town (1967)
Attack of the Clones 2002
These quotations and reverences create a visual lyricism, they serve in a completely explanatory manner over the thematic unveiled in this segment as it also displays itself as a way to poeticize it. While the political commentary is created effectively over the mentioned implicit subtext, the own construction of the romance is also worth to look close at. Both films: Anyone Lived in a Pretty [how]town and Doctor Zhivago evoke a paradisiacal location where love flourishes under secrecy. Is interesting how while Anyone Lived in a Pretty [how]town contrasts the romance presented with industry, Doctor Zhivago opposed it with war. And actually these three thematics blend seamlessly in Attack of the Clones. If Kamino is the South of a compass then Naboo is the North, its spotlight is the naturalistic beauty of it, is a planet filled of waterfalls and meadows just like with antique architecture. Notice that Lucas picked up Spain and Italy as locations to depict Naboo: both are European countries that have a similar type of architecture as both derive from the Roman Empire. Is the perfect setting of a romantic location and especially for the type Lucas advocates for: courtly love, a medieval European conception of love that preserves nobility and chivalry, is a knight's tale. Anakin wins Padmé primary by his courtesy, he sees her as a woman as a more "delicate vessel". He calls her "M'Lady", guards her, and shows the same devotion of those knights on medieval epics, while expressing himself in a completelydramatic and exaggerated manner, very much in line with a tradition of love poetry and stories, he wants to be her wooer.
It also has a lot of elements of tragedy. A love that blooms right at the start of war, doomed even before it started. Lucas gave the first hint of the doomed affair in the official poster, he asked Drew Struzan (the author of all Star Wars posters) to draw it so that the main characters would recreate the pose from the 1965 film Doctor Zhivago. Both paitings feature the lovers at the backdrop of war.
Lucas took from both the novel and the film of Doctor Zhivago to recreate this sentimentalism, for example the dialogue has several similarities with the ones of the novel:
“I love you wildly, insanely, infinitely.”—Doctor Zhivago
“I truly deeply love you.” —Attack of the Clones
“But the division in him was a sorrow and a torment, and he became accustomed to it only as one gets used to an unhealed and frequently reopened wound.” —Doctor Zhivago
“And now that I’m with you again, I’m in agony. The closer I get to you, the worse it gets. The thought of not being with you. I can’t breath. I’m haunted by the kiss that you should never have given me. My heart is beating, hoping that kiss will not become a scar. You are in my very soul, tormenting me, what can I do? “ —Attack of the Clones
Is corny, but the dialogue is sincere. As George Lucas expressed it better himself:
“It is presented very honestly, it isn’t tongue-in-cheek at all, and it’s played to the hilt. But it is consistent, not only with the rest of the movie, but with the overall ‘Star Wars’ style. Most people don’t understand the style of Star Wars."
Moreover in Boris Pasternak’s book, and David Lean’s film adaptation (a director admired by Lucas), Varykino is the idyllic country estate to which Yuri Zhivago retreats with his family in summer, and with his soul mate, Lara, in winter. In Attack of the Clones, it’s the name of the Lake Retreat owned by the Naberrie family (Padmé’s family) for centuries. It is also the same place where she and Anakin, seek refuge from assassins, succumb to their feelings and fall in love, exactly like Lara and Yuri. Both estates are family-owned property, completely isolated in a middle of nowhere, making it an ideal place for secret love affair. Thus the whole interlude at Naboo feels like a foreshadowing that the love of Anakin and Padmé is a love that can exist only in a secrecy and stolen moments, quite like Lara and Yuri’s it could only exist as an “illicit affair”, a love story condemned to a downfall.
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
Attack of the Clones (2002)
There is far more of course, this is the tip of the iceberg. Once we start to notice the patrons of Lucas, his narrative styles and visual language becomes more and more evident. For example, over Lang he also takes inspiration over the use of shadowing to connect ideas with characters.
Quite like Lang used the hat of Beckert in M to parallel him with the child murderer, notice how the shadow of Anakin foreshadows the helmet of Vader while positioning blatantly above Padmé, indicating the final tragic outcome.
Furthermore notice how they embrace in a hug. Lucas repeats this shot later on but on different locations, not once but twice in Revenge of the Sith, the unclouded and clear blue sky is replaced by an opaque one and later on by the aura of Mustafar.
Lucas does this throughout all his work, he replicates through staging while opposing the color palette of the shots to juxtapose certain moments which is a far more intricate and thought-provoking way to transmit his ideas.
Going back to the previous scene of Attack of the Clones, now Lucas moves to a western. He is clearly taken over John Ford here by reflecting psychology throughout landscape. Anakin's rage is transmitted upon the tone of the landscape, and the twin suns working as a symbol: fate. No coincidence "Duel of Fates" is displayed during this segment, the fate of Anakin is in a balance, we have the option to chose to do the wrong or the right things.
And before I forget, this scene opened up with another visual parallel. Anakin is found on the same spot as Luke in A New Hope, but here Lucas does something brilliant regarding screen direction: Luke looks from left to right into the sun where his destiny lies, while Lucas changes the camera for Anakin, so looking at him from right to left means looking backwards, which reinforces the theme of Anakin not being able to let go his past thus the relation of the fate of both characters being decided in this spot (symbolically depicted by the twin suns) carries a theme of legacy and a conflict among past and present and the consequences of letting one define you over the other.
To end up with this part: all the segment of Tatooine references several tropes of western, with all the search of Shmi be taken straight out from The Searchers. In fact, Anakin becomes the Ethan character, he is shaped over a tragic hero but also over a western one.
The Searchers (1956)
Attack of the Clones (2002)
Lucas doesn’t give the rightfulness to any side, the Tusken pretty much started the conflict and weren’t innocent as they kidnapped and tortured an innocent women just like they killed and harmed innocent men during a pillage. This makes Anakin’s impotence understandable but not justifiable. The moral conflict is the same as in the Searchers, social crashes and riots arise by hatred even if at the beginning they might have had noble reasons promoting them. Ethan was in the pursuit of his nephew and Anakin in the one of his mom, but their motives diverted far way from their original nobility. That’s why the rage depicted ends up being overwhelming and like Padmé we don’t end up rejecting it like we would expect but petrified with no reaction because we see these characters suffer a tragedy to become the perpetrators themselves. Is not about saying such actions were acceptable but is about sympathy over lost.
There's much more to comment like the style over Feuillade (Judex, Les Vampires) and Frederick Stephani (Flash Gordon) which also demonstrate the tendencies towards serials that plague not only this film but the whole saga, from characters to action set pieces (for example, I love Dooku having a resemblance with Judex as a morally ambiguous vigilante). And also a remarkable quality is the similarities with Murnau, specifically with Sunrise. Murnau like Lucas manipulated the image with visual effects to isolate the lovers from their surroundings, it is a reclamation if love opposed to their surroundings.
Equally fascinating is the usage of color montage that display the experimental nature of Lucas. A filmmaker that did this throughout his filmography was Stan Brakhage, some of his films are hand-printed and utilizes color to juxtapose, represent and abstract to create expressive montages. While Lucas uses different techniques (mainly embracing digital as I elaborated prior), his method is the same; this can be spotted during the duel of Anakin and Dooku. More than a duel is actually a depiction of color to connect ideas.
Lucas starts by opposing blue and red, the light solely comes from the sabers so Anakin and Dooku become silhouettes that are rather blended within the background.
Before this segment of the duel, this scene was being shot primarily on objective point of views and without use of many close ups. However this montage between colors does the opposite, the focus is on the faces of the character and not in their actions, which makes the strokes of the sabers rather hard to follow as we perceive the movement by a static shot, this is the reason why this particular choice of editing has been criticized by the general public: people expected an action piece not a visual concept.
Blue and red are contrasted against each other, like Anakin and Dooku are. We know Dooku was a Jedi once who became a Sith; he is foreshadowing Anakin, the colors indicate this reflection. Notice how blue is reflected only over Anakin, the color coming out from him while red serves as a wipe, that doesn't reflect his face but chops the shot completely.
More evidently this is manifested right after, blue and red are completely juxtaposed taking the whole frame.
Is a clear demonstration of montage, the same Lucas uses during the final minutes of the film to condense and display in a completely visual way everything I elaborated.
As we see the successful escape of Dooku, the shots keep transcending of color. From a soft tonality of purple to orange and later on red, but notice the landscape, from a seemingly deserted land, to a metropolis and finally to an industry where even the sun is blurred. Lucas moves from a more naturalistic view to desolation.
The last shot can be contrasted later on with Mustafar in Revenge of the Sith: is a desolated panorama dominated by red and gloom, this is exactly how Lucas depicts industrialization: humanly bleakness.
Continuing with the last scene of Attack of the Clones, as we follow the Jedi and later on the Clones; the panorama is filled with orange, the middle of the previous composition: a path towards the ruin of humanism). Is no coincidence then that while Phantom Menace displays purple during the last scene and Revenge of the Sith is filled up with red, Attack of the Clones stands in the middle with orange: is the anteroom before the storm, a faux and short lasting momentum of quietness.
Of course this is later on blended with the political panorama. Notice how the Clones are staged in a way that reverence Triump of the Will (a film of nazi propaganda):
Triumph of the Will (1935)
Attack of the Clones (2002)
“How do you turn over democracy to a tyrant with applause? Not with a coup, but with applause? That is the story of Caesar, Napoleon, and Hitler.”
– George Lucas
The so called victory then, is actually the downfall of the Republic, of democracy, is not longer a democracy but a dictatorship. Hitler didn't gain his power by a coup d'état, he was elected democratically as Chancellor and from that position he rose to power, we tend to forget that the worst hazards are on plain sight, this is why it's consequences end up being the most devastating.
Finally, Lucas opposes war with love, in the same flair as Doctor Zhivago (as I elaborated prior), two sides of the coin that unravel the tragic procedures of the story.
This final scenes compliments both the romance and thematic in a cohesive way. On one hand Lucas keeps advocating for classical tropes of romance (marriage), while the usage of white (for the bride) and black (for the groom) clothing is pretty much a cliche nowadays that lacks the intention of its original meaning (white depicting purity and the virginity of the bride), Lucas actually gives a lot of relevance to these colors.
During the 2000s, Lucas re-edited the original trilogy among many things to add cohesion and tie up with what he built up in the prequels. The most noticeable change is the inclusion of Hayden Christensen in the end of Return of the Jedi, but notice his robes; for the first and only time Christensen wears white robes to embody his character. The only time Anakin had white robes before was in Phantom Menace, when he was a kid; symbolically Lucas states that Anakin is back to his naivety and associates white with innocence, goodness, compassion and purity. I'll also leave what Lucas stated over how he portrays kids and how this ties up and emphasizes this symbolism.
In Attack of the Clones, Padme wears the white clothes; not only as it is traditional but she is depicting this naivety of Anakin. If white is the opposite of black, then it depicts the opposite as well, being the cynical part of Anakin, is the union of these two what brought Anakin to his downfall.
Furthermore, during this union notice how the hands of each lover are displayed:
Not only is "black and white" "cynicism and innocence" being blended but Anakim has a mechanical hand that is joined with Padme's flesh hand. Anakin can also be contrasted with Rotwang from Metropolis who also gets his hand replaced by a prosthetic, and if you have seen Metropolis the parallel becomes even clearer: a man that tries to cheat death by his eccentric experiments to save a beloved one which eventually brings him to his own doom.
Metropolis (1927)
Previously on Attack of the Clones, Anakin got his arm stuck and pulled by a Conveyor Belt. This quotes from Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times, what is interesting about this reference however is how this depicts both characters being dragged into the dehumanizing effects of industry: they are literally being pulled by machines. And in Star Wars, in the case of Anakin the fact he got his arm caught before it is chopped is another contrast of him becoming more machine than man.
And this ties up with the other side of the thematic. Just like Lucas joins opposed ideas through these characters, he also does that in a political context. Liberal democracy (Padmé) is seduced by fascism (Anakin), each character represents these opposed political ideals which are consolidated through an union, which is exactly what Palpatine is doing in the political panorama.
The contrast among war and love is also a contrast among machinery and humanism, notice how Lucas displays this not only by opposing starships with an expression of love, but within the disposal of colors in the shot of the wedding. As I argued in the beginning, nature and industry are frequently contrasted, Naboo embodying natural beauty and Coruscant and Kamino being its flip side in which nature is practically abolished. Notice how red is displayed during the wedding, is isolated in the corners, is not predominant but is blended within the landscape, now notice the opposite corner from where red is displayed: is green, is yet another opposition of nature and industry, humanism and dehumanization, ideas that Lucas carried by colors and visual morifs, he is a truly fascinating auteur. Red and green are opposed colors on the color roulette, Lucas is contrasting and opposing ideas within ideas and joining them in a final statement: “You don't see the struggle part of a person's life. You only see the success they have [...] Many of the truths we cling to depend greatly upon our own point of view.”
