Anyone who knows me at all, knows I am a gigantic nerd. Particularly, I love sci-fi/fantasy. Specifically, I am a huge fan of Star Trek, Star Wars and Doctor Who. I have been watching the three since I was a child, and while not a walking encyclopedia I do have more than average knowledge of them and their cannon. Sometimes people ask me which is my favorite, at which point I demur, because picking just one favorite between the three is, frankly, impossible. When asked about a favorite movie, however, my answer is always the same:
Why is this one film so important? So influential? So soundly ranked as one of the best movies of all time? From my perspective, the answer is simple. The story is real. No, I don't mean events occurred exactly as depicted. That would be foolish. What I mean by that is the story, while having a distinct beginning, middle and end, is very much like real life in that it starts long before the movie does, and will continue long after the movie ends. Events that take place make the characters seem more like real people. Luke makes the kind of choice a real person would make, not a hero. Han and Leia go through an emotional wringer that brings them closer together as a couple, much like real people going through traumatic events. We meet Yoda, the wise Jedi Master who takes on a frustrating, ignorant student but perseveres not because he is the best choice but because he is the only choice. Vader makes an attempt to sway Luke to his side not just because the Emperor told him to, but because he knows exactly who he is to Luke and even with his full absorption by the Dark Side of the Force, he still feels that connection and would rather Luke join him than be forced to kill him.
There's so much going on, and the entire dark, unresolved story pulled at me, forcing me to invest in it more than the previous film and more than the one that followed. I loved seeing more of the characters I already knew, I loved seeing them grow and accept their flaws, and I truly loved seeing my favorite two characters get more screen time. Not only did we learn more about everyone we'd already met, but we got to meet new people, too, like Lando and Yoda, and see the history between all these different beings. How they connected, how they were part of each other's histories and futures, and how they all fit together into the saga that Star Wars became.
It was the first movie I had ever seen where there wasn't a happy ending, or even really a resolution at the end. Things went wrong, characters made mistakes, and the universe didn't come to an end. It's matter-of-fact presentation of "this is who these people are, this is what they did, and this is why it didn't work out so well for them" made for intense storytelling. And, in the end of the film, no one won. That's real life. In real life, there are no "winners" or "losers". We all have times when we win, and times when we lose. Seeing characters in a movie about a fictional place and a fictional time go through the same type of scenarios as real people made the movie more relatable. Being more relatable made it more enjoyable. And now, nearly 40 years later, it holds just as much power as it did when I was a child.
Proving the Force is still strong with this one.