25
A leader goes down with the ship
Star Wars: Episode VIII—The Last Jedi
Writer: Rian Johnson
Director: Rian Johnson
The theater audience held their collective breath as we all realized what Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo was about to do. Taking control of the Resistance starship Raddus, she began to make a jump to lightspeed through the First Order fleet. With grace, dignity, and a sly smile, she pulled off her final act. Sound and score vanished. Vibrant colors went dark. The Raddus exploded into the mighty Supremacy and beyond into the other ships. From a distance, we watched the explosion and for a beautiful, bold beat, the only thing we could hear was our thoughts. As the debris scattered through the stars, a lone audience member in a far corner quietly said, “Whoa.”
No one else said a thing.
We had never seen anything quite like this in Star Wars before. There are absolutely familiar elements. The delayed sounds of explosions reminiscent of Jango’s seismic charges in Attack of the Clones. The exploding Star Destroyers had strains of the destruction of the Super Star Destroyer Executor to them. And it all harkened back to Han Solo’s warning regarding the perils of jumping to lightspeed way back in A New Hope. But this was different. This was beautiful and violent. Inspiring and haunting. It was a tragic lesson in the responsibilities of leadership.
There is no shortage of opinions about Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo, of course. As is most fandoms want these days, the thoughts about the character and what she did are often polarizing, combative even. But, lost between the huffing and puffing of the fans (and I myself do enjoy a good huff and puff-filled opinion every now and then) and buried behind the spectacle of her sacrifice resides the real truth. And it’s somewhere in the middle of it all.
The character of Holdo was an interesting addition. Not bluntly and blatantly militaristic, you got the sense that her position of leadership was born out of her longstanding connection with Leia as well as her accomplishments. (She did something big at the Battle of Chyron Belt!) Their history stretched back to their teenage years, back before Leia rebelled and the fall of the Empire. There was trust there. Loyalty. She seemed to be a leader full of heart and a calming spirit reminiscent of Mon Mothma, but she was fully comfortable in taking charge. She was a great leader to some. And they wouldn’t be wrong.
Unless, of course, you’re Poe Dameron. Holdo, like Leia, believed the hotshot pilot was a loose cannon. Forged by the fires of war, but not yet refined. So, in a controversial decision, she kept her big plan of escape away from him and most of the crew, save for those closely associated with her. This didn’t sit well with Dameron and, well, just go find a grumpy corner of the Internet, it didn’t sit well with a lot of people. She was a bad leader to some. And they wouldn’t be wrong.
In life, as in fictionalized space wars, leadership is often about making the tough calls in even tougher moments, and believing in them. She made a choice to hold back key information from someone she didn’t feel could handle it. It was her right to do so. It’s any leader’s right. And look what happened. Upon finding this out, Poe Dameron shares the information with Finn and Rose and starts an ill-fated mutiny. This zaps the Resistance of precious time and allows the information to slip into the ears of Benicio Del Toro’s DJ, who’s always looking to sell his soul to the highest bidder. The wheels fall off. If only it had managed to remain a secret until the last possible moment.
But it didn’t, and that’s the messy reality of the situation. If she had told Poe early on, despite what were probably correct misgivings about doing so, perhaps none of this would have happened. Yet, like any leader, Holdo doesn’t have the luxury of going back. She can only deal with the now. She can only go forward. And that leads straight into her sacrifice.
As it all starts to unravel, as time slips away and the First Order uses DJ’s tip to figure it all out, Holdo realizes this desperate escape all falls back on her. There are many things to feel here, and the scene gives you all the silence and time to experience them. There is loss. For her, for Leia, for everyone trying to get to the surface of Crait but doesn’t. There is destruction. The Resistance resources, like the early days of the Rebellion, are thin and every soldier and ship is needed. And there is peace. The last look we see on Holdo’s face is a small smile. Her end has come, but she takes solace in the fact that from this something else can live on.
As I sat in that theater, stunned at what I had just watched, dazzled by it all, I didn’t immediately know what the right answer about Holdo was. Quite frankly, I didn’t care. I watch Star Wars with my heart on my sleeve. I connect to emotions first, then analyze later. And what I feel is that Amilyn Holdo was a good leader who made a bad decision. And she knew it. This final act is her penance. It was her taking responsibility for what had happened. As the sound and color return to the screen, we have to catch our breath and move on. Not unlike the Resistance. What remains is a gorgeous, breathtaking, and painful lesson of the high price of leadership and the honor of sacrifice. Any way you look at it, the Vice Admiral had to go down with the ship.