The Confession Scene-is it the best?

In my opinion it was one of the greatest scenes in the entire series. I think BOTH Hayden AND Natalie did a great job. Someone earlier mentioned Natalie's eyes. They're right. Her inital reaction to Anakin was silence, but her eyes said so much!!! EXCELLENT.


And Hayden he did a great job conveying all the range of different emotions. Love this scene.

 

By popular request I will give my 2 cents on how the "confession" scene should have gone.

1. Do not cut away immediately from the Tusken slaughter. Instead, keep the camera focussed on his face as he cuts through the tuskens with his saber so we get the idea without actually showing him dismembering people. Also, make sure we know there are little sandpeople in the village before the slaughter begins.

2. Before he leaves the scene, give us a couple brief shots that establish that he has indeed killed every living thing in the camp. Maybe a long shot from above of what looks like bodies everywhere. Maybe Anakin standing there, surrounded by the desert silence, and hes looking at his saber-hand in horror over what hes done. All of this, by the way, takes up only a couple minutes screen time (if that).

3. He gets back and when Padme asks him "whats wrong" he says something noncommital, and she responds, "Im so sorry about your mom" or some such crap. And theres a moment where maybe hes thinking of telling her what hes done, but instead he doesnt. She hugs him, and we get a closeup of his face as they hug and we see the enormous conflict of emotions on his face, the rage and anguish and shame. hold for a few secs, and thats it.

There is no reason Padme HAS to know exactly what he did. And in fact, given that Lucas was set on them being married at the end, there are many reasons why she shouldnt know. At the very least, this would eliminate the her inexplicable "there there now, Ani" response. Also, my revision would illustrate the growing duality of Ani's nature, as well as his ability to decieve those he loves AND himself.

Basically, we really dont need this post-slaughter scene at all, as long as we get a bit more of the slaughter itself and some more emotional aftermath stuff from Anakin. But if you guys insist, this is just one way the scene could have gone.

Instead, we got almost nothing of the massacre itself (and weve already determined that this could be shot in a way that wouldnt overly alarm the kiddies) and this lame, anticlimactic "confession" followed by an absurd and meaningless respnse from Padme. And to those who think Ani had to confess to Padme, ask yourself this: Did this confession change their relationship in any discernable way whatsoever?

It should have, but then Lucas had to get those kids married at the end. God do we need a Kasdan for ep 3.

 

Wow dahveed72, do you have no imagination of your own? Everything needs to be shown to you huh. Did you need to see Leia tortured in ANH to know it happened? Or Han in ESB? But you still knew Vader was evil for it.

 

So, basically you don't have a better way to do the confession scene...you'd just chuck it completely and give us visual confirmation that he indeed killed everyone in the camp? And then we watch him make a face and that'll show his "conflict" better than what he said in the movie?

Okay...

 

In film, which is predominantly a visual art, it is almost always better to show rather than tell. Exposition, especially exposition that spells out relevant actions, is dull and lazy filmmaking.

Showing just a bit more of the slaughter (so we know it took place) is much stronger than having Anakin completely spell it out for us between sniffles. And given Lucas' complete ineptitude when it comes to these intimate scenes, he should have avoided this "confesion" if at all possible.

Imagination's got nothing to do with it slave. And SW is about the worst example of you could use to make this point. Let me know if i have to explain this last thought to you. k?

Look, kids, if u think my idea is crap, then please explain to everyone why it doesnt work, or is less effective than the original scene. And keep in mind that this is just off the top of my head. ive read better ideas elsewhere on this board. ill track em down if i can.

 

This scene is all about Anakin. I know that there are some people who are perhaps disappointed about Natalie's performance, but she does exactly what she should do. If she does any more, she begins to pull from Hayden, which would diminish the power of the scene.

Well put...That's pretty much how I felt. I was fine with her during this scene.

 

dahveed72 which do you preffair?

Original Wampa scene, where you dont see the monster and its cut around it, or the SE when you see the monster clearly. And ROTJ original when you dont see the Sarlacc, or the SE when its there. From your above post I assume you like the SE's more.

 

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If she does any more, she begins to pull from Hayden, which would diminish the power of the scene.


Why is that? conflict is what good, tense storytelling is all about.

 

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Original Wampa scene, where you dont see the monster and its cut around it, or the SE when you see the monster clearly. And ROTJ original when you dont see the Sarlacc, or the SE when its there.

Thematically, these scenes are completely identical, CGI or no. Therefore, the SE versions were totally unnecessary. They had no bearing on the story, the relationships between characters, or Lukes personal development.

Terrible analogy, Slave. Be more direct next time, youll have more success.

Keep it simple, gushers, for your own sakes!

 

Did i mention i loved Watto's cameo? Man, that guy is great!!

 

In film, which is predominantly a visual art, it is almost always better to show rather than tell. Exposition, especially exposition that spells out relevant actions, is dull and lazy filmmaking.

And that is clearly why you'll never become a filmmaker. You've never heard of the "less is more" theory. Anakin's confession is so much more powerful than mindless violence. And we do know there are kids in the camp, GL shows us that. And it's not like he showed no violence at all. He showed us plenty of Anakin's rage but he didn't let us know Anakin killed everyone until the confession and that is why it is so powerful. We see anakin kill a few Tuskens and it's like "Damn I guess he's pissed off" but it's no big deal. Then when Anakin confesses, we're reminded of that rage he expressed earlier and it is so much more powerful. When he says "the women and the children" you really feel like "oh ****."
It's like sex. If you go for the climax right off the bat it's nowhere near as good as if you start, then hold off then come back to climax.

 

Well youre right, ill probably never make it as a filmmmaker <sniff>. Luckily i have directors like Peckinpah, Scorscese, Spielberg, Ford, Eisenstein, Jarmusch etc... to fall back on.

All i can do is watch the movies, contemplate them in a critical way, and read what these artists have to say about their work and the work of others. The quote of mine that you cited isnt MY OPINION. Its just me paraphrasing the opinion of a century's worth of filmmaking. If you think otherwise, i would suggest you take a remedial class in Film Theory b4 you lambast the ideas that have developed over a century of moviemaking. I took a couple of these classes back in the day, and though i didnt get much out of them, i suspect you will.

And as far as the above quote being some hard and fast rule of good filmmaking: well of course it isnt dumass!! Unfortunately, Lucas doesnt come close to having the artistry or storytelling ability to mess with the rule.


Again, someone has reminded me that you foxbat might be a kid. I dont remember if u mentioned your age b4, but if you are a kid just ignore this old curmudgeon.

oh and if youre not a kid, for god sakes lay off the moronic analogies. embarrasing for both of us.

 

My opinion I enjoy Lucas' direction better. I find much more artistical to see him only kill a few tuskens, and then later on wer find out he killed them all in the confession. I think the confession scene i definately one of the best in SW. I mean, I got chills from this scene. I didn't even get chills when Vader revealved he was Luke's father.

The confession scene is the most importaint to AOTC. Of course, it is only my opinion. I just don't see how anyone could just throw it away like you davheed72




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The confession scene is the most importaint to AOTC.

ok, why?

oh, and thanks for at least trying to address the points i made.

 

God do we need a Kasdan for ep 3.

Please investigate the dialogue for ROTJ, which remains the worst of the saga. It was often terrible, and makes TPM look brilliant at times. I'm just referring to the dialogue. I don't think Kasdan did as good a job as people would like to believe.

 

dahveed, well, I agree with you on one thing. Watto's awesome.


Point: Star Wars, is, at the end of the day, a kid's movie. Uncle George isn't going to show the slaughter of a bunch of people on screen. Even when someone gets wounded or killed, it's artistically bloodless. Jango? Scary, not gory. And lightsabers, SW's primary weapon, cauterizes bloodlessly. i.e. Anakin's arm.

So, even though I agree that it's done classily w/o the slaughter shown, it's a moot point.

PS-dahveed, do you even like Star Wars?

 

I feel it to be the most importaint scene in AOTC because it's really our first glimpse of Anakin turning towards the darkside (that combined with the tusken slaughter itself). The way he says he killed the women and children is just chilling. I'm sorry you don't see that in this scene though.






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Well by "a Kasdan" i meant any above-average screenwriter with a knack for writing dialogue. Frankly id settle for even less than this. Anything to keep Lucas from writing the bulk of it himself.

of course this is a pipe dream

 

I like it. It was just what I thought George would do.

 

Again, I completely disagree with you dahveed72. I think Lucas is a very creative writer. Sure, he's been known to write some dull dialogue, but he's redeemed himself by writing many memorable lines and quotes. I think the Hales/Lucas collaberation in AOTC was magic. Anyway, it's only my opinion.






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I'm sorry you don't see that in this scene though.

Of course i saw it! Ray Charles couldve seen it!! No one (with any sense) has ever accused Lucas of being subtle.

Im just saying its anti-climactic and unnecessary (and poorly written or course). And given your own aside "(that combined with the tusken slaughter itself)" this is not the first or last time we glimpse the dark side in him. Neither is the tusken slaughter. There are many, and none of them are hard to spot. Again, these movies are not trying to be subtle.

 

Not trying to be subtle? Much of the foreshadowing in the first two films has been extremely subtle, to the point where most non-Star Wars fans won't catch it.

 

Why do you say it was poorly written? At the least, didn't you like Hayden's acting? You have to admit, it's not easy for one actor to go from sorrow, to anger, to a tantrant, to shedding tears, to a full breakdown in one continuos scene. That takes ALOT of effort. And I think he oulled it off brilliantly.






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Again, someone has reminded me that you foxbat might be a kid. I dont remember if u mentioned your age b4, but if you are a kid just ignore this old curmudgeon.

oh and if youre not a kid, for god sakes lay off the moronic analogies. embarrasing for both of us.

I am 21. No need to flame me.

 

Much of the midnite audience i saw it with laughed at his odd, "anguished" facial expressions and tittered thru his more emotional scenes. Was Hayden awful? Nah, i guess not. But please stop being surprised that many people found his perfomance lacking. To be fair, I dont think the young man is a BAD actor, but he really couldve used the help of an actors director on this movie.

And Knightwriter, im really not speaking to anyone for was seeing their first SW movie 3 years ago (TPM). Luckily, this only eliminates small children and very old men and women. To the rest of us, these movies are NOT subtle in the least. The hamfisted foreshadowing is great example of this.

If YOU find these movies to be subtle in the least, and youre an adult, well feel free NOT to respond to my posts, k?