A story of a young boy from prequel 1, to Darth Vader from prequel 3, to a man whose conscience is awakened by his father's love in the grand finale.
The story culminates with Annakin dying with his original master, the Dark Force boss, out of love for his son Luke. In other words, a father's love triumphs over the lust for power.
Behind the grandeur of liberating the galaxy and the splendor of the fireworks display is the trauma of Luke's loss of his masters (2 of them) and his father, as well as the countless lives lost...
If the Star Wars series reflects people's desire for freedom and democracy in the 70s and 80s;
Then, the Star Wars prequels are more of a reflection, a reflection on how **** and the state became hegemonic, a deep introspection on power, on war...
Unfortunately, most people don't understand the director's deeper meaning.
I am also thinking, thinking about a few questions that are not really easy to answer--
Is the war for democracy, for detachment from hegemony, worth it? Is it not worth it?
Does freedom need to be defended with blood?
Why does a war that was intended to be just end up being unjust? (The Clone Wars, which turned out to be in defense of **** and country, ended up being a weapon in defense of hegemony)
Is war itself an unjust thing? Or are there just and unjust wars?
......
Appendix: Star Wars Full Episodes
The order of the six films, if you follow the natural progression of the Star Wars story, would actually look like this:
1) Star Wars Prequel 1: The Phantom Menace (1999)
2) Star Wars Prequel 2: Attack of the Clones (2002)
3) Star Wars Prequel 3: Attack of the Sith (2005)
④ Star Wars Episode 1: A New Hope (1977)
⑤ Star Wars Episode 2: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
⑥ Star Wars Episode 3: The Return of the Samurai (1983)
Star Wars Prequel 1: The Phantom Menace (Domestic Release)
The story begins when the galactic **** and nations that have held firm for years are once again embroiled in strife because of interstellar trade and passageway taxation. The Jedi Knights, armed with laser swords and the powerful Force, are the loyal protectors of the ****Harmony, and they are locked in a battle with the remnants of the Sith Empire in the darkness, as the Sith Emperor's behind-the-scenes trade alliance interdicts Naboo shipping.
***The Prime Minister of the State of Peace secretly sends two Jedi Knights, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and Padawan Obi-Wan, to the planet Naboo. The secretly manipulative Sith Emperor sends his disciple Darth Devil after Qui-Gon Jinn and the others in order to force Queen Amidala to sign an unequal treaty. On Tatooine, Qui-Gon Jinn and his disciples met the young slave Anakin Skywalker ("Skywalker" was his family name) and his mother. From the first moment he saw Anakin, Qui-Gon Jinn was convinced that he was the Jedi who could bring balance to the force and defeat the Sith Emperor. Young Anakin left his mother and followed Qui-Gon Jinn away from home to begin his Jedi career. Soon Qui-Gon Jinn was killed by Darth Maul, and Anakin became Obi-Wan's apprentice. The Trade Federation was eventually defeated, and a brief period of peace was restored to the galaxy.
Star Wars Prequels 2: Attack of the Clones (Domestic release)
Ten years later, the galaxy is back in a state of chaos and turmoil. At the instigation of Count Dooku, a Jedi Knight who has secretly defected to the Sith, several thousand solar systems have decided to join together to break away from the galaxy*** and become independent of the State of Peace. Speaker Padin strongly advocated for the **** and State to form a provisional army to attack the separatists, and Padme Amidala, who served as a member of the **** and State Council, vehemently opposed this strategy of fighting violence with violence. At this time, there was a spate of assassination attempts against Padme. Obi-Wan sends Anakin to take charge of Amidala's safety while he himself, following the clues left behind by the assassins, tracks down the planet Camino alone. He accidentally discovers that Kamino began secretly building a huge clone army for **** and country ten years ago. Who made this surreptitious decision without the council of **** and Nation and what was the intention? Obi-Wan is then pursued by a murderous bounty hunter father and son who are the clones' mothers, and the two sides engage in a fierce battle in the pouring rain, with Obi-Wan narrowly escaping death.
Meanwhile, as Anakin escorts Amidala on her way to a safe haven, a subtle feeling begins to grow in the hearts of the two young men ...... Obi-Wan tracks down the bounty hunters, and discovers that Count Dooku and the Trade Federation have colluded to attack the nation of ****he. Speaker Padeen takes advantage of this crisis situation to obtain emergency disposal authority granted by the ****he State Council and, in response, issues an order to draft the clone army into the war.
Count Dooku's droid army was destroyed by the mighty clone army, but Dooku, who was highly skilled in martial arts, broke through the siege of Master and Disciple Anakin, as well as Master Yoda, and escaped. At the end of the war, the clone army logically became the most powerful force in **** and the country, and Speaker Padin gained great power. The war between clones and droids finally broke out.
***The same afflicted Anakin and Padme have become as close as they can be, and Anakin goes out of his way to violate the Jedi commandment against marriage by making a private betrothal with Padme on Naboo. The happy image of the wedding, with Anakin's arm hacked off by Count Dooku, seems to be a vague foreshadowing that this will be a marriage that ends in tragedy.
Star Wars Prequel 3: Strike Back of the Sith (in domestic theaters)
The darkest, heaviest, and most brutal war scene in the Star Wars series.
The Clone Wars have been raging for three years. A spectacular space battle is being fought over the capital between the annihilator ships of the ****Harmony and the battleships of the Separatist Alliance. The ****Harmony is victorious, and the Alliance's General Grievous and Count Dooku have taken the Council's Speaker Padin hostage and are preparing to flee the ****Harmony. Obi-Wan and Anakin flew separate fighter planes from ****Harmony to rescue the Speaker, and were intercepted by an army of Alliance machines on the way. Eventually, the two land on a Trade Federation ship and engage in a battle with General Grievous' machine army.
The door opens and the two see Padin sitting in a chair with his hands bound. About to free the Speaker, the two suddenly feel a powerful surge of dark Force - Dooku walks in. Obi-Wan and Anakin flashed their lightsabers, and the three lightsabers, one red and two blue, battled fiercely. Obi-Wan was thrown up against the wall by Dooku's Force and fainted. Anakin's heart burned with rage as he faced the Sith who had cost him his right hand three years ago. After knocking away Dooku's lightsaber, he cuts off Dooku's hands. Padeen ordered Anakin to finish off Dooku, but Grievous escaped.
After this kidnapping, Padeen asked the Jedi Council of Elders to continue to give him military powers until Grievous was tracked down, and asked that Anakin be appointed his personal representative on the Council. The Council of Elders, long suspicious of Padin's delay in handing over his military powers, was now even more disgusted by his self-appointment, and so asked Anakin to keep an eye on Padin, but Anakin believed that betrayal of the Chancellor would be betrayal of the **** and the State. Anakin has secretly married Padme, as being a Jedi, this is never allowed. Obi-Wan noticed that the two of them had a more subtle relationship, but said nothing.
Padmé is desperately trying to bait Anakin into accepting the dark side of the Force and suggests to him that the Jedi Council of Elders is trying to subvert the **** and the State. And Anakin, who was worried about losing Padme, began to lean on Padeen, as Padeen implied that Anakin himself could teach him the dark side of the Force that could extend human life. At the same time, Anakin became disenchanted with the Council of Elders because of his delay in being granted the title of "Master". His proximity to Padeen led to conflict with Padme, and the Jedi Council's increased distrust of him.
The y hidden Sith Emperor is still secretly manipulating the Separatist Alliance forces. He authorized Grievous to move all the separatist leaders, including the Trade Federation, centrally to the planet Jupiter, and his newest apprentice would take over their full security.
Obi-Wan leads the clone army together to attack Grievous. Obi-Wan uses the Force to seize the phaser at a critical moment and take out the General. Since General Grievous was the head of the machine army of the galaxy-wide Separatist Alliance, his death paralyzed all the machine armies. The Clone Wars, which had lasted three years, were finally over!
Grievous is destroyed, and Padeen finally reveals to Anakin that he is the legendary Sith leader. Anakin rushes to the Jedi Council and tells Master Windu of the situation. Windu led three Jedi to Padin's residence immediately and demanded that he surrender his military power. The Speaker, meanwhile, had quietly hidden his lightsaber within his robes and turned on the video recording device, waiting for them to arrive. When the four Jedi confronted the Speaker with their lightsabers, he feigned panic and screamed "Murder! Rebellion!" , then suddenly draws his lightsaber, destroys the video device, and kills the other Jedi Masters, except for Windu, with a swordsmanship never before seen. He casts the Force Lightning of the Sith at Master Windu, his face twitching as he powers up, finally revealing the Sith Emperor's hideous true colors! However he was still no match for Windu. Hurriedly arriving, Anakin demands that Padeen be brought before the Council for trial, and Windu says that Padeen has taken control of the Council, and that he's prepared to result in Padeen directly. Anakin angrily draws his sword and cuts off Windu's hand holding it. Padin, in turn, threw Windu out a window with a Sith bolt!
The valiant Master Windu was sacrificed. At this point Padeen, who should have been called Sith Sidious, revealed to Anakin his true identity: the Sith Emperor. Anakin knelt, submitted to the Sith, and was given the Sith name "Darth Vader".
Padin came to the Council and gave a speech, claiming that Windu had tried to assassinate him, and that the Jedi had completely betrayed the **** and the State, declaring that the **** and the State would be changed into an empire. The Dark Emperor shows up! His first order is to destroy all the Jedi! Anakin and the Stormtroopers break into the Jedi Temple and go on a killing spree, killing all the Jedi, including children.
Obi-Wan, Master Yoda and the others, who were out pursuing the remnants of the Machine Army and the Separatists, were suddenly attacked by the collected Clone Legion. It turns out that the Clone Legion has received orders from the Emperor to destroy the Jedi. Obi-Wan and Master Yoda escaped death and returned to the temple, with the Jedi dead and wounded in front of them. Through surveillance footage, they discovered what Anakin had done.
At this point, Anakin came to Padme and told her that the Jedi had started a rebellion and that he was going to Jupiter to end the war once and for all, and that when he returned, the two would be together forever. Padme's love for Anakin clouded her judgment. Anakin led the vast Sith army straight to Mufa, and the leaders of the separatists there thought he was coming to protect them, but they didn't expect Anakin to close the door and draw his lightsaber! Because they were no longer useful to the Sith Lord. Anakin had slipped completely into darkness after the massacre frenzy.
After Anakin left, Obi-Wan found Padme and told her that Anakin had fallen to the darkness and created the tragedy at the Temple. Padme doesn't want to believe this. Worried that Obi-Wan will kill Anakin, she lies that she doesn't know where he has gone. Obi-Wan leaves in disappointment, saying before he leaves that he already knew Anakin was going to be a father. A heavy-hearted Padme prepares to go to Jupiter to look for Anakin, and Obi-Wan quietly follows him to the ship.
Master Yoda finds Padme, and the two top masters of the forces of light and darkness square off in an unprecedented showdown at the top of their game! Yoda is saved by Councilman Bell O'Gunnar after being struck by Sith lightning. Padme arrives on the planet Jupiter, which is littered with volcanic lava. Anakin asks her if she has told Obi-Wan of her whereabouts, to which Padme replies that she has not. He finally reveals his ambition to Padme: to destroy the Sith Emperor in the future and rule the galaxy himself. Padme is shocked and saddened to the point of breaking her heart. It was at this point that Obi-Wan appeared, and Anakin, thinking that Padme had brought him, used the Force to choke Padme unconscious. two loyal droids, C-3PO and R2, rescued Padme back to the ship.
The teacher-disciple revolt was inevitable. Anakin's furious Force power overtook Obi-Wan, but Obi-Wan used the favorable terrain to gain the upper hand. Obi-Wan pleaded one last time with Anakin, adrift on lava, to abandon the dark side of the Force and restore galactic peace. But there was no turning back for Anakin. He drew his other lightsaber - a homemade red Sith lightsaber - and leapt into the air. Obi-Wan took advantage of the situation and cut off one of Anakin's legs and one of his arms. Anakin's body lost its balance and fell into the lava below. Obi-Wan collects Anakin's blue lightsaber and takes the fainting Padme away on a ship. The Sith Emperor found the mutilated and dying Anakin and took him to the Imperial Medical Room, where he was resuscitated in an emergency.
Padme is devastated after giving birth to her daughter Leia and son Luke. The bodiless Anakin was revived by Imperial medical droids and encased in black armor. Most of his body is now mechanical. Anakin asks the Emperor about Padme's whereabouts, and the Emperor tells him that Padme has been killed by him - Anakin. Anakin roared, his Force pouring wildly like a storm, making distant Obi-Wan and Yoda sense that he was alive.
To prevent the Emperor and Anakin from finding the children, Yoda suggested that they be raised separately. Councilor Ogana adopted his daughter Leia and brought her back to the planet Alderaan, and proceeded to begin building a secret insurrectionary alliance. For talking too much, C3-PO's memories are erased, while R2D2's are preserved. Obi-Wan, meanwhile, took Luke back to Tatooine, the planet where Anakin had lost his mother, and gave him to Mr. and Mrs. Owen to raise, changing his own name to Ben Kenobi, and living in seclusion in the desert near his farm, secretly watching Luke's growth.
On the Imperial Annihilator, it is no longer Anakin who walks out of the medical bay, but Darth Vader, the Black Lord. Vader came to the window and stood with the Imperial Emperor, Sith Lord Darth Sidious, and the Supreme Military Governor, Tarkin. The three looked out the window into the firmament. In space, the Death Star had begun construction.
Star Wars Prime 1: A New Hope (1977) (not introduced in China)
***After the demise of the Heavens, the evil Galactic Empire took control of the entire galaxy, and was presided over by Darth Vader, Lord Darth Vader the Black Knight (who had defected to the Sith's Anakin Skywalker) in the construction of the powerful space battlebase -- the -Death Star. As the inhabitants of the galactic systems of the Galactic Empire suffer from tyranny and the Rebellion continues to fight relentlessly, Princess Leia infiltrates the Imperial base and steals information on the structure of the Death Star's centerpiece, a secret weapon powerful enough to destroy the tyrant. Princess Leia, who had obtained the plans, was captured and chased by Darth Vader, but she had already entered the data into the droid R2D2's computer, and the droid R2-D2 and C-3PO, carrying the data, fled in escape pods to a distant planet, Tatooine, where nineteen year old Luke Skywalker lived with his uncle, Owen Ralls, and his family and lived the life of a simple, peaceful farmer. R2 and 3PO land on Tatooine and are captured by the Gavawans and sold to Luke's family. Luke overheard the image of Princess Leia's plea for help stored by R2 and fell y in love with it. R2 flees in the night. While searching for R2, Luke finds Obi-Wan, who survived the battle against the Empire, and learns that his father was a Jedi Knight and was given his father's lightsaber. Obi-Wan asks Luke to go with him to rescue the princess, and trailing Imperial troops kill the Owens. Grief-stricken, Luke decides to accompany Kenobi to rescue Leia. They hire the Millennium Falcon, a ship belonging to intergalactic smuggler Han Solo and the ape Jobacha, and fly to the Resistance base of Alderaan. Vader commanded the Death Star to destroy Alderaan and then captured the Millennium Falcon. With the help of Solo, they infiltrated the Death Star and rescued Princess Leia.
After so many years, Obi-Wan and his "protégé" Darth Vader are at war again. In order to realize Luke's power, Obi-Wan volunteered to die under Darth Vader's sword. Luke and the others escape on the Millennium Falcon. Luke, who witnessed this tragedy, did not realize that Darth Vader was his real father. With the plans for the Death Star in hand, the Resistance headquarters in the Yavin system found the key points of the Death Star, and immediately launched an attack. On the Death Star, the Resistance and the Imperial forces engaged in a grueling, great aerial battle. Just at the emergency moment when the Resistance fighters lost all their planes, Luke, guided by the spirit of Kenobi, realized the spirit of the Force and blew up the Death Star in one fell swoop. Vader's fighter goes out of control and is lost. The Rebels gained a stage victory and ushered in a new hope.
Star Wars Episode 2: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (not introduced in mainland China)
The Death Star may have been destroyed, but the Empire's forces are still everywhere. In search of the rebels, the Empire sends thousands of probes to various parts of the galaxy, one of which lands on the secret base of Hafs.
Luke has an accident during one of his patrols. In a coma, the spirit of Kenobi appeared and gave him the revelation to travel to Planet Dredd in search of Jedi Master Yoda.
Soon the Rebels' secret base is discovered by the Imperial fleet, and Black Knight sends his troops on a destructive sweep of the secret base, and the Rebels are forced to retreat, as Space Captain Solo takes Princess Leia into hiding in an asteroid cluster to escape the Empire's pursuit. Luke, meanwhile, flew to Planet Dredd with the droid R2.
Solo and the Princess hid in a cave in the asteroids to repair their ship, with the Imperials in hot pursuit.
Luke meets Master Yoda on Planet Dredd and begins to learn the lessons of becoming a Jedi Knight from Master Yoda, who teaches Luke many lessons, but in order to prevent him from repeating his father's experience, Master Yoda deliberately strengthens his training in controlling the young Luke's emotions. Solo and the Princess and the others accidentally discover that the cave is actually the inner belly of a monster. They manage to escape and hide among the Imperial fleet, and take another gap to travel to the City in the Clouds in search of Lando Karos, a friend from Solo's past. But Imperial spies and bounty hunters from the desert planets tracked them down as well.
Luke, sensing that his friend is in trouble, heads for the City in the Clouds. And Solo and the Princess and her party fall into the hands of the Empire as a result of Lando Karos' betrayal. Darth Vader freezes Solo and sets up a trap ready to entrap Luke.
Fate has destined the father and son to face each other in the sands --- Luke is locked in a bitter struggle with Darth Vader, who fights Luke while luring the young Jedi to fall to the Dark Side. Luke, however, has refused to bow to the Dark Force. Losing his patience, Darth Vader unleashes an onslaught of attacks on Luke. Fighting back, Luke loses his grip on his sword and the Vader reveals himself to be his father, urging him to join the side of the Dark Force. Luke shouted "No!" and plunged into the bottomless abyss ......
At the same time, as Darth Vader tore up the agreement, Lando Calos defected to the Rebellion. He rescues Leia and the others, but fails to save Solo. Lando and the others escape the Imperials and sail away. Luke was hanging on the antenna at the lower end of the City in the Clouds. Princess Leia sensed Luke's message, and the group sailed back to save the dying Luke. After a fierce chase, Luke, the Princess and the others finally got rid of the Empire's pursuit and returned to the Rebel Alliance's flotilla, and helped him to put on a mechanical arm. Facing the stars, he senses that a harsh struggle is coming again.
Star Wars Episode 3: Return of the Samurai/Return of the Jedi (1983) (not available in China)
The Empire begins construction of a new Death Star in order to completely destroy the Rebellion. When it is completed, the Rebels, already at a military disadvantage, will no longer be able to compete with the Empire. The Rebels begin to plan new military operations. In order to rescue Captain Solo, who has been captured by Jebba on the desert planet, Princess Leia and Lando, C-3PO, and R2-D2 infiltrate Jebba's palace, but the plan fails and Princess Leia is captured. Luke comes as a Jedi to ask Jebba to release his friends, but is refused and falls into a trap. Luke kills Jebba's monster, and the brutal Jebba wants to throw Luke and the others into a cannibalistic cave in the sandy sea to be executed. After ineffective warnings, Luke exerts his divine powers, destroys Jebba's gang, and takes his friends away from the desert planet. It was only then that the crowd managed to escape.
Luke once again traveled to Dick's moon in search of Master Yoda. At this time Master Yoda's life force is fading, Master Yoda tells Luke that Darth Vader is indeed his father, and at the same time, Luke learns that Princess Leia is his own biological sister, and that he can truly become a Jedi Knight when he finally confronts Darth Vader's challenge. After giving Luke his final teachings, Yoda passed away and Luke became stronger.
Luke rejoins the ranks of the Rebellion. The Rebels begin a military campaign against the New Death Star. At the same time, the Empire's "Master" is also on the New Death Star. He has set up a trap for Luke. The New Death Star has an energy barrier formed by forest star emissions to protect it from outside attacks. Luke, Solo and Princess Leia lead a small team to destroy the launch base, but the Ewoks, who live on the Forest Star, are unfriendly until the Ewoks mistake the golden C-3PO for a god, and then both sides work together and, with the help of the local inhabitants, succeed in destroying the Death Star shield. Instead, Lando joins the Rebel fleet as they prepare to launch an attack on the new Death Star and prepare to assault the newly constructed space station of the Imperials.
Alone in the Tiger's Den, Luke is unable to defend himself against Emperor Palpatine's Sith Lightning, which represents the highest forces of darkness, and is in desperate straits. Seeing his son's imminent death, Darth Vader, who was on the sidelines, finally awakens and picks up Palpatine and throws him into the core of the Death Star, but is himself fatally damaged by the lightning. Before dying, Black Knight removes his armor and makes a sincere confession to his son, and Anakin Skywalker finally recovers his good nature, after Luke "Father! Father!" Calling out, he dies with a relieved smile.
The Rebels have blown up the Death Star once again, and the Juggernaut, the head of the Empire, has been destroyed. The Galactic Empire had been destroyed, and the rebels' quest for freedom and democracy had finally been won.