Star Wars: The Clone Wars - S5E19 - "To Catch a Jedi"

This post contains spoilers.

Recently, I re-watched the Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode "To Catch a Jedi" (S5E19) and noticed an interesting detail.  Near the end of the episode, Barriss Offee (whose identity isn't revealed until the next episode) steals Asajj Ventress's mask and lightsabers and, disguised as Ventress, attacks Ahsoka Tano.  During the fight, she slashes a pipe so that the resulting exhaust temporarily stuns Ahsoka.

At first, I thought this was just a reference to a similar event in The Empire Strikes Back, where Luke directs exhaust from a cut hose in the carbon freezing chamber at Vader, creating enough of a distraction so that he can retrieve his fallen lightsaber, but it actually has a closer analogue in an earlier episode of The Clone Wars, and this holds greater significance.

In "Cloak of Darkness" (S1E9), there's a lightsaber duel between Luminara Unduli and Asajj Ventress in which Ventress does the same thing:  she cuts a pipe in the Jedi cruiser so that the steam compromises Luminara's vision.  Ahsoka was present at the duel (albeit the later stages), and since Barriss is Luminara's padawan, it's likely that she's familiar with it, too.  In "To Catch a Jedi," she adopts this move as an-other facet of her disguise and an-other way to make Ahsoka believe that she is Ventress.

Breaking Away

Last month, I watched this performance of Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 4 in A major, Op. 90, subtitled "Italian."  It reminded me that the fourth movement is used in the soundtrack of Breaking Away.  I'd realized before that there's a connection between the "Italian" symphony and the affinity of one of the main characters for all things Italian, but I had two more realizations about the use of this movement in the soundtrack.  Earlier this week, I watched the movie again to reacquiant myself with it.

Dave Stohler, one of the main characters, is obsessively interested in bicycle racing and the Cinzano team in particular.  About twenty-four minutes into the movie, after he's learned that the team is coming to race close to where he lives, there's a scene where he rides his bicycle down the highway as part of his training.  The fourth movement of Mendelssohn's symphony is used as the soundtrack here, and its "presto" tempo marking matches the ever increasing speed at which Stohler races and his urging himself to go "Faster!"

The other realization I had is that there's something of a similarity between Stohler's pretending to be Italian and Mendelssohn's writing a symphony inspired by Italy.  Of course, these aren't exactly the same, but common to both is this looking to a foreign culture.  Neither is the genuine article:  Stohler is American, not Italian, and the "Italian" symphony, unlike some of the veritable Italian music used in the film's soundtrack, was written by a German.

Les Misérables

I've been (slowly) re-reading Les Misérables, although this is the first time I'm reading this particular translation (by Julie Rose) and the first time I'm reading an unabridged edition.  Recently, I read Chapter VI ("Father Fauchelevent") of Part One, Book Five, and this reminded me that the movie treats this scene differently and that I'd intended to write about it years ago.  Earlier this week, I watched the movie again so I could write about it.

In both the movie and the book, Jean Valjean, in the guise of Monsieur Madeleine, comes upon Fauchelevent, who is trapped under his cart and slowly being crushed by it.  In the movie, Valjean, with the aid of a beam he uses as a lever, lifts the cart off of Fauchelevent:

Javert witnesses this feat and afterwards starts to suspect that Monsieur Madeleine is really Jean Valjean, whom he knew as prisoner 24601 and whose great strength he witnessed in an earlier scene where Javert has Valjean retrieve the flag, which was still attached to a mast:

(In addition to this visual parallelism, the two scenes are underscored by the same music.)

In the movie, the main purpose of this scene with Fauchelevent's cart seems to be the stirring of Javert's suspicion.  The demonstration of Valjean's compassion and setting up Fauchelevent's later repayment of this kindness are minor in comparison.  In the book, however, this scene is a bit different and primarily illustrates Valjean's character.

In the movie, Javert becomes suspicious about Madeleine's true identity only after he lifts the cart, but in the book, he makes it clear that he remembers Valjean's strength beforehand.  In Chapter VII ("Despair from the Inside") of Part One, Book Two, the narrator explains that "not one of the galley inmates could hold a candle to him in physical strength.  In hard labor, for twisting a cable or turning a windlass, Jean Valjean was equal to four men.  He would sometimes lift and carry enormous weights on his back and would occasionally himself replace the tool known as a cric, or jack... His inmate pals had nicknamed him Jean-le-Cric."

In Chapter VI ("Father Fauchelevent") of Part One, Book Five, after Valjean offers increasingly larger sums of money to any man who will get under the cart to lift it off Fauchelevent, Javert remarks:  "You'd have to be a monster of a man to lift a cart like that on your back. ... Monsieur Madeleine, I have only ever known one man capable of doing what you're asking here. ... He was a convict. ... From the jail in Toulon. ... I've only ever known one man who could stand in for a jack.  And it was that convict."

Despite these comments, Valjean gets under the cart and lifts it off Fauchelevent, basically admitting that he is the man whom Javert remembered.

The other significant difference is that in order to save Fauchelevent, Valjean puts himself in the same perilous position, even though, as the narrator explains, Fauchelevent is "one of the rare enemies Monsieur Madeleine still had" and that he "had done everything he could to hurt Madeleine" in terms of his business.  Valjean remains there, trying to lift the cart, even though the crowd in general and Fauchelevent specifically try to persuade him to get out.

The scene in the movie shows Valjean simply doing a good deed that has unintended consequences, but the stakes are much higher for him in the book, where he puts himself at risk by going under the cart and he knowingly stokes Javert's suspicions, all for the sake of a man who is his enemy.  Valjean's saving Fauchelevent under these conditions illustrates his extreme selflessness.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - S3E1 - "Clone Cadets"

Recently, I found a note I made about a detail in The Clone Wars episode "Clone Cadets" (S3E1).  At the time, I decided not to write about it because it seemed too small of a point, but since significant details (especially in Star Wars) are the sort of thing I've been focusing on lately, I thought I'd write about it now.

The episode follows a particular squad of clone troopers (Domino Squad) who are having trouble working together.  While watching the squad perform poorly in a training session, Shaak Ti remarks, "The one they call Echo never adapts to the situation," and the bounty hunter El-Les, who is helping the Jedi train the clones, comments, "CT-782 seems to follow his own path.  He can't do it all alone."  Two other clones argue with each other too much and are shot down by training droids, and the last clone surrenders when he's surrounded.  Shaak Ti then summarizes the squad's problem:  "If these cadets can't get past their short-sighted selfishness, they will never come together.  Unity wins war, gentlemen."

Later in the episode, Commander Colt comes to watch a few squads perform their final tests.  The squads meet him in a hangar, and after Bravo Squad is chosen as the first squad to run the simulation, the clones file out of the hangar.  As each squad turns in formation, the clones stomp their feet, but while the clones in the other squads all stomp their feet simultaneously, the clones of Domino Squad stomp their feet at different times.  In the shot, they're shown from the waist up, so it's easier to hear the various footfalls than see them.

This detail shows that the clones are still a bit too independent and aren't yet working together.

The Terminal

Earlier this week, I watched The Terminal again (because the movie starts around this time of year), and I realized the significance of a detail.

Shortly after the situation with Mr. Milodragovich (which I wrote about a number of years ago), Viktor Navorski shows up at Frank Dixon's office and tries to give him a Virgin Isle sailfish for his wall, apparently trying to mollify Dixon's anger.  Navorski must have remembered the other fish displayed on Dixon's wall, visible in a scene earlier in the movie when the two first meet:

The fish that Navorski offers, however, is considerably larger than Dixon's fish (briefly glimpsed again in this scene as the camera pans with Dixon as he sits down), and this is significant.

Immediately after the problem with Mr. Milodragovich, Dixon had threatened Navorski as a punishment for cheating the system and allowing Mr. Milodragovich to leave with the medicines for his father but without the necessary documentation.  "Do you think this is a game?  Do you think I need an excuse to put you back in that cell, to keep you there for another five years?  You go to war with me, and you go to war with the United States of America."  Dixon made these threats in front of the review board that was there to inspect the airport and assess him for the role of chief field commissioner, a position he's wanted for years, and now he blames Navorski for making him look bad.

In this particular scene, he repeats some of his threats:  "Let me make you a promise, Viktor, and this is a promise that comes from a man who is stuck here, a man who may be stuck here for the next ten years.  From now on, you and I are partners.  If I stay, you stay.  You will not set one foot in New York City, not a single toe in the United States of America.  Do you understand what I am saying to you?"

Navorski answers, "Yes, you don't like [the] fish."

It's sort of a humorous response, but it can also be taken in a somewhat more literal sense.  Dixon doesn't like the fish that Navorski freely offers because it's bigger than any of his own and makes him look bad in comparison, just as he did in front of the review board.

Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

After writing about Anakin's body language in a scene in Attack of the Clones, I figured that I might as well also note its significance in a scene in Revenge of the Sith.

At around 53 minutes into the movie, there's a scene in Padmé's apartment where Anakin tells Padmé that he "feel[s] lost" and that the Jedi don't trust him.  Then he says, "I'm not the Jedi I should be.  I want more, and I know I shouldn't."  As he says, "I know I shouldn't," he turns away, as if he can't bear to maintain eye contact with her while admitting this fault.

In the featurette titled "The Chosen One" on the bonus disc from one of my copies of Revenge of the Sith, there's even behind the scenes footage of George Lucas directing this scene, and he specifically tells Hayden Christensen, who plays Anakin, to turn away during that line.

Star Wars - Episode II: Attack of the Clones

I recently re-watched part of a scene in Attack of the Clones in order to verify some dialogue for a future post about an episode of The Clone Wars on my other blog.  While doing that, I noticed a significant detail in the conversation that Anakin and Padmé have while she's packing in her apartment.

After Anakin claims that "in some ways, a lot of ways, I'm really ahead of [Obi-Wan]," expresses his frustration that Obi-Wan "won't let me move on," and gives a further list of complaints, Padmé placates him by saying, "All mentors have a way of seeing more of our faults than we would like.  It's the only way we grow."  In a sort of defeated manner, he admits, "I know" and sits down.  Padmé then says, "Anakin, don't try to grow up too fast," and he replies, "But I am grown up."  Significantly, he stands up as he says this, as if trying to prove his point by showing that he's taller than she is.