The People vs. George Lucas

The documentary tells a fan base's quarrel with its own creator. The Star Wars trilogy was watched across generations and a large community formed around it. Then George Lucas went back to the old films; he changed scenes, added effects and recut certain moments. He withdrew the original versions from circulation. The fans objected. Then the new trilogy came and the reaction grew. The documentary gives both sides: what the fans claim and a producer's right over his own work. Alexandre O. Philippe directs. A great many fans, critics and people from the industry speak. It is an American production. Part of its material comes from films the fans made themselves; short animations and amateur footage are used. A call was put out online for the production and video recordings sent from around the world went into the film. George Lucas did not take part; the narrative uses his earlier interviews. The matter it treats is ownership of a work; the documentary builds it as a question of feeling rather than of law. It also criticises the fans' anger; that some reactions were disproportionate is said outright. The narrative also describes Lucas's past in independent cinema. Its limit is scope; the narrative repeats and the same claim is stated many times by different people. Who it is for: anyone curious about fan culture and film history. Who it is not for: it is closed to anyone unfamiliar, repetitive, and its argument narrow.