Saga Does Sidious Call to Anakin through the force in ROTS?

I tried to see if there was a post on this, but I could not find one...

In ROTS, there is the scene where Anakin is in the Jedi temple contemplating what course of action to take right after he tells Mace about Palpatine. We hear Sidious/Palpatine talking to Anakin, the voice is softly dubbed over the music.

Is Anakin just remembering what Sidious told him previously, or is Sidious communicating to him through the force?

I have watched this movie numerous times, and I always took it as Anakin just remembering part of a previous conversation, a typical move overdub to help the audience know what was going on in Anakin's head.

However is other conversations on this board, it was brought up that Sidious was communicating through the force with Anakin. I never thought about it in those terms, but it makes sense to me because:

A) There is no other scene in the saga where we "hear" a characters thoughts
- and-
B) This is exactly what occurs in every instance someone communicates through the force. ie. Luke/Vader , Obi / Luke...

I just wondered if this is addressed in a commentary, or if there were any other thoughts about this scene...

 

Its just the same kind of telepathic communication between two distant characters that Vader uses with Luke in ESB (and in the cut scene in ROTJ). The dialogue Anakin hears is different to what Palpatine said before, so we should safely assume it is not simply a memory being played over in his head.

 

Hmmm...

Although there's no precedent in terms of a character simply recalling a previous conversation through the use of voiceover, I always took the scene to be playing it in those terms - despite the fact that we never actually heard those actual lines from Palpatine. It's just the way it's presented.
In the other scenes where anyone hears voices in their heads - Luke at the battle of Yavin, Leia at Cloud City - there's an immediate, obvious reaction of surprise. Not so with Anakin. He's pacing up & down, clearly going through the thoughts in his head. The audience hearing Palpatine's voice is merely a way of bringing Anakin's internal conflict to the fore as sort of climax to the scene. The scene builds up to it, rather than the voice coming out of nowhere.

However, that's just my opinion, I don't think there's anything conclusive to suggest that it's one way or the other.

It's also been suggested that in the very same scene, Padme & Anakin have some sort of telepathic link, hence why Padme breaks down in tears. I think that's nonsense, it's just standard cinematic technique - Padme knows in her heart that Anakin is heading somewhere bad (she's his wife, after all) & it's intercut with Anakin making the decision to take that step past the point of no return.

 

I'm leaning towards the "hearing a previous conversation" explanation, only because it's typical for cinema..I know Mr. Lucas never did that in SW before, but there are a lot of shots in AOTC and ROTS that are unlike anything Lucas ever did previously with SW. He seemed to be experimenting with camera angles and movement. ANH has always been called a "documentary style" film. The way ROTS is filmed is much more cinematic and beautiful, there is an abundance of camera movement that is simply not there in AHN and even TPM....
Buuuuuuuuuuuuuttt then again, I kinda like the idea of Palpatine reaching out through the force, it fits better with what we have seen before. I never ever considered this possibility until a week ago or so....Thanks Jedi Council for giving me another excuse to watch ROTS again!!!!

 

Ever since I first watched it, I interpreted it as speaking to him through the Force.

Even if Lucas was trying new things, it doesn't seem in his style to do that "auditory flashback" thing.

 

Not quite sure, he probably did.

 

I've always felt it was Palpatine speaking to Anakin after Palp's sensed that the **** was about to hit the fan. I forget, what does the novelization have to say about it?

 

In the novelization Anakin is only remembering things Palpatine said to him in their last conversation.

 

I thought he was calling him through the Force, the same way Vader called out to Luke aboard the Falcon in TESB and the deleted scene from ROTJ.

 

I can only think of one time when we hear the thoughts of someone else in voice-over in SWs, and that's when Qui-Gon says: "Anakin, No!"

In this instance, Qui-Gon is clearly calling out to him and Anakin is not imagining his voice in his head. If this sets a precedent, then it would imply that Palpatine is calling out to Anakin through the Force, but that's a big "If."

 

I've also assumed it's Anakin's brain playing games with him. It's typical in the way that Anakin's thoughts dwell on something Palpatine has never actually said in that way but rather the little piece that matters the most important to Anakin.
While fliming Lucas told Hayden Christensen he should play it in a way that Anakin would think that if he doesn't interfere, he would basically kill Padmé himself. So I think the focus is on Anakin's thought rather than Palpatine's influence.

I would also kind of undermine the intelligence of Palpatine's stategy. Palpatine just let Anakin go in his office moments before, because he knew Anakin's desires and fears would automatically bring him back. He wouldn't have to to anything and even better, it would make Anakin feel independent and free in his decision, which is something the Jedi have never allowed him to be.

So yes, the movie allows both interpretations, but I am a strong proponent of the "thought" theory.