In order to access this natural resource called unobtainium, the military brings aboard some scientists that are studying the Na’vi people.

The scientists also create Avatars, human and Na’vi hybrids, that look just like the natives but are controlled by the human brain.

All this is made possible by the corporation funding the excursion. The main character, a handicapped ex-marine, is faced with the task of infiltratating the Na’vi tribe and “become one of them” in order to more effectively plan an attack or convince the tribe to peacefully leave their land and move out of the way.

I would tell you what happens next but that would just give away the whole movie. From what I have described so far, many concepts already ring a bell.

Corporations profiting from  a war against the ‘savages,” the exploitation of natural resources without restraint and unsustainable deforestation.

It would be nice to say that these are made up concepts, but, unfortunately, they are realities we are facing today.

From Bush’s “war on terror” backed by Halliburton and Blackwell; to Texaco’s dumping of 18 billion tons of waste into the Amazon river in Ecuador; to Hunt Oil building a Seismic testing base in the heart of Peru’s rainforest, pummeling trees, wildlife and Indigenous land - this film artfully portrays the ugly.

Unlike the movie, where the Na’vi succeed in defending their land, real life does not have the same happy ending.