Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Most of the new Star Wars series movies are total garbage beyond the first 3 masterpiece movies. But I will make an exception for Rogue One which came out in 2016. It’s a highly underrated war movie of sacrifice and heroism that really set up Star Wars the original movie & the destruction of the Death Star. It’s like Mission Impossible meets the Dirty Dozen but it takes place in the Star Wars universe. Few against many with insane odds against them.
How did the Rebels get their hands on the plans for the Death Star? Well this movie (along with Andor series 2) explains it. They got it via incredible violence, sacrifice and many lives on both sides. Spoiler alert, literally every single rebel on the mission dies but yet this mission is the key that unlocks their future. As main character Jyn Erso says: “Rebellions are built on hope.”
Rebel intelligence agent Cassian said something very poignant in the movie:
“Some of us, well most of us, we’ve all done terrible things on behalf of the rebellion. Spies, saboteurs, assassins. Everything I did, I did for the rebellion.
Every time I walked away from something I wanted to forget I told myself it was for a cause I believed in. A cause that was worth it. Without that, we are lost. Everything we’ve done would have been for nothing. I can’t face myself if I give up now.”
It’s nice to have a cause to believe in. In this case, freedom of the galaxy from the tyranny of the Empire. Yes, this is just a movie but it seems fiction is starting to blend into reality in 2025 as the fractious West declines while the new Axis of autocracy CRINK (China, Russia, Iran & North Korea) emerges and has been actively working against us. This is an enemy much worse than our corrupt, grifting, dishonest and incompetent ruling elites, which in my view is the lesser of evils.
We need to wake up from our grand delusion of peace at all costs. Wishful thinking of a peaceful world that has long disappeared because of our own weakness & stupidity. We need to be willing to fight for our way of life, it can never be taken for granted. We need to remember nothing good comes without sacrifice.
But don’t give up hope yet abroad or at home. It’s not too late. As long as there are people willing to fight and resist to protect our way of life in the West. We need to get strong again.
“One fighter with a sharp stick and nothing left to lose can take the day. If we can make it to the ground we can take the next chance. And the next. On and on, until we win or the chances are spent…….May the force be with us.”