4am on the last day of the year, I'm smiling inside and it not just because the year was great; I'm in good health, better mentally and emotionally and I feel blessed.
It's because somehow a movie with lots of near naked blue people made me feel like a kid again.
I firmly believe that movies are nothing short of a new world replacement for the story-tellers and griots of our past. Where once before we huddled around a fire and were told stories of our ancestors that lifted our spirits and caused us to sing; we now huddle together in dark tombs called cinemas/ theatres where we can be transported to other places or even times past or future an be entertained, educated or enthralled. When once we were called upon by the actions of local village heroes to also right the wrongs inflicted on the masses, we are now called up out of armchairs. Simply put, where once we were told, now we are shown.
Tonight was such a night. I revelled in the hero. Felt sadness at his defeats and when all was lost rose as one with him in his final moments of triumph. Yes, it was a simple enough story, but arn't those the best? The simple ones that stay with us forever. Like a nursery rhyme that stays all through adulthood. Never forgotten and easily recalled to retell to our own children. The images were fascinating but believeable. I was transported back to my youth when after coming out of some "BRUCE LEE" flick or "SHOALIN MONK" facade I would feel to leap, and kick and shout "HIYA!!!".....
Beacuse in my innocence I was given a gift, the gift of confidence that somehow "I TOO COULD FIGHT THE BAD GUYS AND WIN; I TOO COULD BE A HERO!"
And that is the beauty of this film. It is simple storytelling that gives us hope. It says you too can stand up and fight back. It encourages you to fight for a greater good against all odds.
It touches something primal, instinctive and aboriginal in each of us. It harkens back to a day when we all believed and knew that the trees somehow whispered to each other in the wind; the animals all had a spirit and that life was about more than just money, power or sex. It is brilliant in it's innocence.
It says, HEY YOU. YEAH YOU HUDDLED IN THE DARK! STAND UP. YOU TOO CAN BE A HERO, AN AVATAR!!
Go watch the film.
"HIYA!!!"
and deseires nothing more than to paint himself blue;
run wild and mash up de place.
But J'Ouvert is still a couple months away.
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