tru’s review published on Letterboxd:
the sith aren’t the only ones that deal in extremes.
it’s always been painted that the jedi are good and the sith are evil, but it’s so much more complex than that.
the jedi are a hardcore religious conservative faction of the senate, with what seems like a majority control. they prevent sex for its members, make sure everything is done in strict accordance with the guidelines, take part in “aggressive negotiations” when someone disagrees, and even use mind control for the “greater good.”
the sith on the otherhand, are extremist libertarians, wanting more personal freedom than a reliance on rules or a duty to a government.
both of these ideologies are flawed. neither want to admit it.
a “balance” of the force won’t come from the eradication of the sith. yoda & windu know this, hence their reluctance to train anakin. not only is he too old (at 9!) to fully succumb to their cultish beliefs, but if he truly will bring balance to the force, as the prophecy says, he will minimize the power the jedi have.
that’s what’s so special about anakin. in a world of ideological extremes, he’s the first centrist in a millennium. he’s alienated by the side he wants so desperately to help, so it makes total sense that he would help out the other side (as this is a world where there is no compromise), especially since they can offer him the personal freedom he desires.
and in a way, he does bring balance to the force. at the end of this film, there’s only 2 jedi and 2 sith. but that’s not good enough for either side. even up through episode 8, no one is actually content with a balance in the force, and just wants total domination of their side.
dark doesn’t inherently mean bad and light doesn’t inherently mean good. you have to understand the other side to form a solution. having total domination is not balance, it’s not democracy, it’s totalitarianism.
that’s the major overarching theme of the prequel trilogy, the thing that’s so subtle and overlooked that most people wrote them off as cgi filled boring unnecessary films. but they are necessary. compromise is necessary. and revenge of the sith is the ultimate crescendo of the prequels’ ideas. a moderate, who had the potential of bringing together two warring factions who have been fighting for millennia, forced to a side by a society that refuses a middle ground.
there will never be a balance in the force as long as the sith and the jedi refuse to understand each other.