Night Watch (Ночной дозор, pronounced Nochnoy dozor if you ever want to talk about with your Russian friends) is a 2004 Russian film that might be described as an urban-fantasy-supernatural thriller directed by Timur Bekmambetov. It is loosely based on the novel The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko.
My question for this post, however, is not about genre or adaptations. I've got a philosophical question for you. I want to know what the film has to say about good and evil. Since the film features "Light others" and "Dark others" one can't help but make a connection with "the force" in the sci-fi fantasy epic, Star Wars (Lucas 1977), particularly its "dark side."
In interviews George Lucas has explained that the Force is a symbol for all that is unseen in the universe. The light side is essentially a symbol for the unseen Power of good — while the dark side is a symbol for the forces of evil. According to Lucas, the Jedi exhortation to "Use the Force" essentially means "Make a leap of faith."
For this post, I want you to compare and contrast Jedis with the Light Others, and Siths with Dark Others. Specifically, I want you to explore the 1) mission/mandates of each of these groups, 2) how it impacts their behavior toward each other, 3) their source of power, and 4) why the line between the Others is not as clear as the line between the Jedi and Siths. Ulimately, I want you to get at what Night Watch contributes to our understanding of good and evil. Is it just a rehashing of Star Wars contribution or does it add something new?
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