Star Wars: Episode III - The Revenge of the Sith, directed by George Lucas, is yet another installment that glorifies war in the minds of filmviewers as the only way to settle conflicts. The plot of Episode III has been well understood for several years. Annekin Skywalker (played by Hayden Christiansen) begins as a sensitive Jedi knight, and at the end of the film, Annekin becomes Darth Vader. After he accomplishes a perilous rescue of Palpatine (played by Ian Diamid), Supreme Chancellor of the Federation, from kidnappers, he declares his love with Padmé (played by Natalie Portman), whom he wants to marry, especially when she informs him that she is carrying his baby. Rejecting his role as a Jedi knight in defense of democracy, he later wants the superior powers to be derived by casting his lot with Palpatine, who plots a coup de chef d'état. The heart of the film, thus, is how Annekin is persuaded to accept the Faustian pact. The first step down the path of betrayal occurs when the executive council accepts Annekin as Palpatine's personal representative but, to his chagrin, without the power of a Master. Lucas, who in other episodes of Star Wars disparaged democratic values, extolling efforts of warriors who act on their own without approval from legislators, now warns of the danger of allowing too much executive power. Indeed, as U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg, a Democrat, noted one day after the film opened, "The leader of the Senate breaks the rules to give himself and his supporters more power." He was referring to the fact that Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Republican, threatened to abolish the filibuster, the only tool by which a minority can stop a majority from ramming through questionable judicial nominations and other legislation. MH
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