At first I thought you were passing off George Clooney’s picture as your own. You don’t need to. You have the good hair.

Below is my own ruminating on Avatar.

It is an understatement to say that Avatar is a powerful movie. I staggered out of the theater at three in the afternoon feeling like I needed a drink and a nap (and I don’t drink!) The huge amount of time and the staggering expense that writer/director James Cameron invested have clearly paid off in many ways. The special effects and computer-generated characters are eye-popping. The breathtaking beauty of the planet Pandora makes one hunger to live there.

Historical, mythical and theological illusions abound, from the obvious theme of invaders willing to exterminate indigenous peoples in order to access natural resources, to “humans” flying on the backs of giant bird-like creatures; from the concept of incarnation (or re-incarnation) via the avatar, to the amazing holy tree in the center of the garden paradise.

We see the paraplegic war veteran, Jake, interact via his avatar with Pandora’s native “people,” the Na’vi, a race of ten-foot tall, blue humanoids. Initially Jake is in it for his own self-interest, but soon he falls in love with the Na’vi and in particular, Neytiri, who has been assigned to teach Jake the ways of the Na’vi. I found myself falling in love with her, too, and was reminded that beauty is much more about one’s heart than physical appearance.

Cameron gives us glimpses into the Na’vi’s spirituality. They are deeply in tune with their natural environment, both plants and animals. The Na’vi mate for life. Their deity is feminine and wise. It is clearly a world morally superior to that of the invading forces, who exhibit no sense of spirituality and don’t even value science except as the means to monetary gain.

The first two hours of the movie effectively set up the final conflict between the invaders who are willing—and in the colonel’s case, eager—to use violence to achieve their economic goal, and the natives wishing simply to continue their lives in peace as they have always known them. The invading earth people give the Na’vi the choice of fleeing or being killed.

What we have learned to this point about the Na’vi’s wisdom and gentleness could give us hope that they will choose to utilize a way beyond that choice of “fight or flight” which lives in the reptilian part of our human brains. Will they choose a third way, a higher way, a way of peaceful conflict resolution in which each party is ultimately satisfied? The entire movie was perfectly set up for that type of conclusion, which would have given some hope to our world so desperately in need of it. What a present that would have been during this holy season!

But no, Cameron chooses instead to give us the millionth version of “shoot ‘em up” cowboys and Indians violence (with the twist that the “Indians” win.) Yes, there are amazing special effects, but in the end it is simply stereotypical good guys vs. bad guys, win-lose, whichever side can kill more of the enemy wins.

The “good guys” win, but we know it will be a short-lived victory. No lessons have been learned. The invaders will be back, with more troops and even more highly sophisticated weaponry.

Can we hope that in the sequel Cameron will give us an ending as imaginative and hopeful as the special effects?