Star Wars, Iraq, and the state of the world

Without Michael Moore and Fahrenheit 9/11 at the Cannes Film Festival this time, it was left to George Lucas and Star Wars to highlight European pique over the state of world relations and America’s role in it.

Lucas’ themes of democracy on the skids and a ruler preaching war to preserve the peace predate Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith by almost 30 years. Yet viewers yesterday – and Lucas himself – noted similarities between the final chapter of his sci-fi saga and our own troubled times.