[Posted previously over at www.twitchfilm.net. Used with my approval since I wrote them!]
I haven’t toodled around the web tonight for fear of being inidated with gushing Star Wars posts. Yep, on this day in 1977 that little old movie opened up, set off a tidlewave of fandom and it changed a bunch of lives and most of us haven’t left our parents’ basement since. I read an interesting article from local critic Peter Howell this past Saturday. He’s not as warm and fluffy about the anniversary as I am [I just can’t contain myself you see]. Follow the link… Empire strikes out - Star Wars is turning 30 this week, but is there anything left for fans to celebrate about the once-beloved franchise?
But prior to this article I had the pleasure of reviewing a great mock-doc called A Great Disturbance. It goes a little something like this… In April 2005, a film crew followed five delusional fans during their preparation, trip, and return from the third Star Wars Celebration in Indianapolis. Phil, a computer repairman who thinks he is the greatest and funniest fan of all time. Lee, debuting his homemade Stormtrooper costume. Doug, a competitive tabletop gamer who trash talks elementary school challengers. Derek and Smitty; two college preps searching for girls among the Jedi and Wookies. See the hilarious and biting satire of us Star Wars fans, the conventions we attend, and all the characters, costumes, long lines, exhibits, games, and fanny packs that come with it. Watch the film evolve from a great documentary into A GREAT DISTURBANCE.
Imagine we’re sitting in a twelve step recovery group. ‘Hello, my name is Mack and I am a Star Wars fan. Near as I can remember Star Wars has always been a part of my life. My parents say they took me to see the first Star Wars back in 1977 but that would have made me three and half. I think they meant Return of the Jedi. In grade one my best friend was Craig and he had a lot of Star Wars figures so I would go over to his house and look at them. My brother and I had some figures and a Millennium Falcon but not much else. We were war mongers and collected G.I.Joe toys like it was crack, but back to our Star Wars years. Each Christmas we would take empty rolls from wrapping paper and have light saber battles in the living room. Star Wars was my life when I was a child and I remained committed to it throughout the rest of my life. I have toyed with the idea of shooting a fan film; the storyboards still exist. I believe Han Shot First. I have a collection of light sabers on the desk beside my computer desk. But I don’t consider myself to be a hardcore fan any more. I am somewhere in the middle ground, likely two or three steps away from dressing up in a costume and attending a convention like Celebration. I believe that thanks to the prequels that will never happen and I will remain a closet Star Wars fan’.
Five friends who share common interests in Star Wars and filmmaking make up the creative team behind this film, Aegis Films. They cite shows like The Office and Curb Your Enthusiasm as influences on their work and there is certainly that element of comedic style to their approach. Though it doesn’t work some of the time it is still largely successful in soliciting big laughs. This group of friends produced, wrote, filmed, and even acted in their own mockumentary A Great Disturbance about the different types of Star Wars fans. They each adopt an extreme personality from that cross section of fans then interact with other fans at the convention. What you get is that very awkward yet realistic approach of comedic storytelling that is standard in those shows.
And as a testament to their filmmaking skills though I screened this film without doing any research prior to screening it the first time I caught on pretty early that this was a mockumentary. When you ask someone to act and they have never acted before they are very obvious – case in point, the girl who hands Lee his asthma puffer in line. She gives the camera the ‘I’m not an actor but I am trying to be’ look. But, my roommate, who fancies himself as some sort of actor and filmmaker, didn’t have a clue until I told him otherwise after it ended. Well done guys. You fooled the fine arts high school graduate into thinking it was real.
The characters are brilliant. Phil is the most hardcore of them all and therefore the most puritan of the lot. Even the sight of something non-Star Wars makes him seethe and soon what he perceives as a lack of true fandom draws him into a downward spiral. The same goes for Doug. An elementary school teacher, Doug is very caught up in tabletop game Star Wars miniatures. Unwilling to leave success in the game to pure chance and luck of the roll Doug has elevated playing the game to exceptional heights, so high that all that is left is the fall, and he does fall very hard. Derek and Smitty are closet Star Wars fans. Content to stand on the outside looking in at Star Wars fandom they come to Celebration out of curiosity and to pick up chicks. Derek spends most of the time looking to ‘get his drink on’ but Smitty approaches the convention with cautious optimism. And then there is Lee Sagowitz. God bless you Lee Sagowitz. The clear hero of the film, Lee loves Star Wars because it just makes him happy. He can hardly wait to put on his homemade Stormtrooper costume [it took him two years to make] and meets other fans. Lee is the heart of this film.
The success of A Great Disturbance is the honesty in which each character is portrayed. Staying true to their characters, the circumstances create themselves and the actors are confident enough to pull off each incident with the goal for each character still in mind. What is also great about this film is that you don’t need to be Star Wars fan to enjoy it. This is a film that can be enjoyed by all. It is very funny and even heart warming in a sense because a clear hero emerges in this film- perhaps two. Lee, with his gentle and pure heart, wins out in the end and kind of gets the girl [Karen Sarna as the Femtrooper. Very hot and very married. Sorry guys]. Smitty as well comes out of the convention on the winner’s side with a hook up. Both Smitty and Lee, with their humble spirits and true hearts, emerge with their character intact and are both winners in the end.
It is also interesting to note that the filmmakers openly acknowledge this as well, citing of all things a verse from the Bible at the end of their film. In the Book of Psalm, Chapter 37, Verse 11 reads, ‘But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace.’. You go to any good Bible commentary and you will find that the meekness is ‘Partly of outward peace and prosperity, which God in his due time will give them: but principally of inward peace, in the sense of God’s favour and the assurance of endless happiness.’. Lee is the epitome of this verse, though I hardly think he realizes it.
So what is the greatest disturbance of all? It is not that these fans exist. I’ve stood in three lineups for midnight screenings for the prequels. Believe me, I know the hardcore exist. I think what is most disturbing of all is that inside this kingdom of the geeks there still exists a hierarchy of social standing. That even inside this gathering of the presumably scorned and humiliated Star Wars fans there is the out casting of their own. That even inside a convention, this safe harbor of the Star Wars geek, there is the cool and uncool. The steady flow of mocking looks and sarcasm directed at Lee and his homemade costume is astonishing. For such a great collective to admonish one of their own is a sad testimony to this particular fan base.
Where do I sit on the scale of Star Wars fans among this cross section? Most likely it would be Smitty but without the frat boy esthetic. The character of Smitty is someone who likes Star Wars but stand mostly on the peripheral of its fan base. Smitty is someone who grew up with Star Wars but he has never taken those final steps to indoctrinate himself into Star Wars fandom and devotion. Would I go to a Celebration? Maybe. Like him I would go mostly out of curiosity. Would I be comfortable at a Celebration? Only if I found comfort in the bosom of someone dressed as Princess Leia in the Return of the Jedi metal bikini.
I can still admit that is the shit.
DVD Extras: Deleted Scenes [was a bit screwy on my copy. image and sound got out of synch. shame], Lee Sagowitz’s Trilogy Synopsis and Trailers.
Scripture and Commentary pages
Karen Sarna’s MySpace and Rebel Legion pages
Aegis Films and A Great Disturbance Myspace. Buy you copy of A Great Disturbance through the Aegis home page.
A remake of 
Paul Newman is 
Firefly was one of those shows that had a great deal of promise but was bungled by the Fox network so badly that it wasn’t even shown for the full season. I’m still not sure why Fox felt the need to show the series out of order and why it was such a big deal for it to not be shown in wide screen.
