Saw ROTS again...third time

[dangermousie]

And it's still great and people still applaud.

I love how after he's cut off Mace's hand, Anakin, even after accepting his "apprenticeship" is just so horrified, messed-up and freaked: you can see it in the ways his eyes dart, in his posture (he can't seem to stand tall and straight as he used to) and the look in his eyes when Palpy mentions Jedi=evil. Only when Palpy mentions that if he destroys the Temple, only then he will be strong to save Padme, that this abates a little. Then you see some sort of purpose enter him again, though he is still a shell in so many ways. But at least now he has a goal he can live with, if he doesn't think about anything else.

It just struck me so forcibly this time around, how much of a boy he still is.

Much more later.....

Comments

[lazypadawan.livejournal.com]

Sigh, I know. Even within the man, Anakin is a naive child up until the end of ROTS, isn't he?

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

And then of course, it's his naivete and even purity of spirit, that makes him so particularly vulnerable to Palpy. He has a child's sense of black and white and a child's straightforwardness.

[grace-om.livejournal.com]

The part that clutches my heart every time is when he comes outside after killing all the trade federation guys. You know...his eyes are all yellow and hard, but there's a tear running down his cheek. ::sob::

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

His eyes are actually back to normal in that scene. It's an amazing one: this is the first time he's had a pause and a moment to himself and despite what he's done, your heart breaks for him. He tries not to care and not to think about it, but he can't.

[elvensapphire.livejournal.com]

As horrible as it is, in some ways Anakin is still as pure and young and innocent as those Jedi younglings that he slaughters. Because he doesn't understand . He doesn't comprehend the lies and the deception and the utter debasement that he has suffered until the moment he's raised up on that table in his prison/suit. And then it's too late, and he's lost everything for nothing. That one thought that he held in his mind, that obsession with saving Padmé, is shattered, and he is utterly alone in the dark, finally realizing what that darkness truly means.

Then people ask me why I always sob...

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Oh yes. You always put it so well.

From the scene of his pledge (which I can still barely watch, because of the sheer debasement of it) to whn he ends up in the suit, he is almost on auto-pilot, not allowing himself to think outside the really narrow channel of "next step is X. After that is Y. Then I can save Padme" He is not allowing himself to think of what exactly is the nature of what he is doing or wat he is doing to his soul. But even then he can't help himself, and as grace_om mentions, he is crying on Mustafar. He snaps out of it in his duel in Obi-Wan a bit, but then he is so carried away in his anger and hurt and doesn't realize exactly what he's done. And then it's too late and he has given up his whole world and destroyed his soul to save something that he lost anyway, and it's his fault.

[elvensapphire.livejournal.com]

The scene of his pledge literally makes me sick. My skin just crawls...The echo of him saying "I will do whatever you ask" (which of course is what he says to Padmé when he confesses his love to her in AOTC) breaks my heart. He's so lost that he's grabbing hold to the only thing familiar to him...And that thing is the shadow. *shudders*

He is definitely on auto-pilot. It's disassociation of his personality. "I'm Vader for now. Shut off my feelings. Do what I have to do to save her." He turns completely when he kills the separatists because he enjoys slaughtering them (understandable after all they have put him through), but then he realizes what he's done and he snaps back. That scene of him crying is so awful. He looks like a child, dressed in the trappings of the Sith, but never truly believing in them. When Obi-Wan shows up with Padmé, it snaps him in two. He is Anakin again, but Anakin has feelings that Vader doesn't. Anakin has passion and fury and everything in his heart just boils over. That fire within him burns everyone he loves, destroys him, and costs everything. Like you said, it's all his fault, and it's all for naught.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Oh yes. I think the disassociation is the only way he can function through this. Padme is right. He is a good man, and I think it's killing him to do this, but he won't allow himself to falter.