Star Wars: Episode II–Attack of the Clones, as expected, features a lot of high-tech violence due to traitors and treachery. “Politicians are not to be trusted” we hear early in the film. The story begins ten years after Episode I with an attempted assassination of Senator Padmé Amidala (played by Natalie Portman), whereupon jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi (played by Ewan McGregor) and apprentice jedi Anekin Skywalker (played by Hayden Christensen) are assigned the responsibility of escorting her back to her home planet, where she is to be protected from any more attempts on her life. Kenobi, however, decides to track down the culprits, leaving Any to guard the Senator, who does not seem surprised that Kenobi is disobeying Federation orders. Any has had a crush on the Senator for the last ten years and is eager to have the opportunity to guard her as his first solo assignment. Although he professes his love for her, the Senator indicates the impracticality of such an amorous relationship, as they could never live together because jedi do not marry. After a bad dream one night about his mother, Any in the morning declares that he must save her from some sort of danger, and he is even willing to disobey his order to protect Senator Amidala, who then agrees to accompany him in his quest for his mother so that technically he will still be protecting her. By the time he locates his mother Shmi (played by Pernilla August), however, she is dying, so he at least can hug her before she breathes her last. Afterward, however, he slaughters everyone in the encampment that had kept his mother prisoner, including women and children, and Amidala accepts his remorse as sufficient to excuse his genocidal rampage. Meanwhile, Kenobi locates a jedi traitor, Count Dooku aka Darth Tyranus (played by Christopher Lee), and is arrested. Any and Amidala join Kenobi, break free from their bondage, but they are overpowered until Yoda (voiced by Frank Oz) and his clones come to their rescue. After the battle has been won, Any and Amidala marry. But the war is not over, and the marriage presumably will somehow be kept a secret, leaving filmviewers hungry for the sequel. How does Episode II differ from Episode I? Evidently, director George Lucas was stung by criticism that Any left his mother without so much as a hug to join a violent gang in Episode I, so he reverses course and brings in a somewhat syrupy dose of family values, repudiating the film’s tagline “A Jedi Shall Not Know Anger. Nor Hatred. Nor Love.” But Lucas’s antidemocratic bias remains unchanged. There is a short debate about democracy, with one Senator arguing against loss of democracy. However, because of a threatened secession from the Federation, the Senate decides to give emergency powers to the Federation head, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine aka Darth Sidious (played by Ian McDiarmid), though he does not appear to use the powers, and no explanation is given for not accepting secession peacefully. Anekin Skywalker, in talking to Senator Amidala, also takes the antidemocratic view that rational decisions should be made and implemented without the fuss of political disagreement. Does George Lucas really care what young filmviewers might conclude about life in general and politics in particular from such a senseless, violent tale (which we are told in the beginning happened far away and a long time ago)? The philosophy of the film is quite explicit, with Yoda articulating the Faustian, ying-yang view that everyone has a dark side, what you see and hear can be deceptive, and, since nobody can be trusted, one must live for the moment. MH