Purely Joyful Movie!

An absolute waste of money

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

I was previously aware of David's slips to the press and felt very little compassion for his having been ostracized from anything Star Wars since his portrayal. Having now watched this and realized the error that I had been exposed to, I can say I am very sorry for my error, and that I thoroughly enjoyed having my understanding corrected.Getting to know Prowse through interviews and snippets of his work was an experience I won't soon forget; nor the fact that I found the arguments that David wasn't responsible for the leaks as originally thought, and that David should have had the opportunity to be Darth Vader at the unmasking, both compelling and convincing. I saw Jedi at 13 and even then was never fully satisfied by Sebastian Shaw. He looked larger than Vader should have looked to my young eyes. It wasn't the face that I expected to appear under that helmet. This was solidified by the view of the bust in the movie of a younger David Prowse in the Darth Vader costume with the removed helmet. That person more closely matched my expectations and I'm sorry I haven't yet been able to fully enjoy that scene. As with others, I had hope that we might be allowed to view the re-shot scene where an older Prowse was unmasked as Darth Vader, but understand completely why I cannot at this time. For now, I am just happy that it is out there, that it exists, and that one day I will very likely get to see it, the world being as it is. I can wait, and I will love that moment when it comes.

The scene towards the end of "Return of the Jedi" where Darth Vader is de-masked is iconic in the Star Wars pantheon. Once Star Wars went from "a franchise" to "a phenomenon", that scene was dug into even further and scrutinized for that fact that David Prowse, the man behind the suit for the first three episodes, was not the face shown (that of Sebastian Shaw) when Luke removes the mask. In "I Am Your Father", filmmakers Toni Bestard and Marcos Cabota set out on a quest to find out what Prowse is up to these days and perhaps even re-create that iconic scene...this time with him in the mask.The reason this is a watchable documentary is because Prowse has been marginalized in the history of Star Wars, not welcome at many gatherings, reunions, and conventions. As such, he is a bit of a mystery that deserves a light being shed on it. I mean, this was the guy who played the actions of Darth Vader (perhaps the most iconic baddie in film history), and it takes an indy film director to find him? Hmmm.That being said, there are two major problems with "I Am Your Father" that keep it at a middling star rating:1. The filmmakers really take some jabs at George Lucas, many of which are not deserved. To put it bluntly, the Star Wars creators had every right to choose Shaw over Prowse, and they had their reasons for doing so. Rumors also abounded (with some proof to that effect) that Prowse would often talk to the press about movie spoilers before premiere dates, so that could explain how he was treated when Shaw was indeed chosen. Is it perhaps a bit low that Prowse isn't invited to any LucasFilm functions? Maybe. But to even insinuate that Prowse was "owed" his face in "Jedi" is a bit far-fetched.2. A lot of the documentary builds towards the re-creation of the Prowse scene...and then the climactic moment isn't even seen! Maybe I missed something, but I felt rather let down that I didn't seen the entire re-creation of the scene.Overall, while I enjoyed learning more about David Prowse in "I Am Your Father", it really deserves its three-star rating because of how it focuses a bit too much on old grudges/rumors that are "he said, she said" scenarios. The life of Prowse should have been the focus all along here, and when it is this doc shines.

No disrespect to David Prowse, but this film is a poor excuse for a documentary. It attempts to combine two basic ideas: show a brief history on Mr Prowse's life history and with Star Wars, and fulfill some goofy idea on the director's part of re shooting the unmasking scene from Return of the Jedi with Mr Prowse inserted into the shot.The documentary on David Prowse would have been fine as it was, but there really is not enough material to fill a 90 minute movie with his info apparently, hence the rest of the picture's subject matter.What they should have done is just focus on all of the other actors (Jeremy Bulloch, Kenny Baker, etc) show the impact of Star Wars affected their lives. The parts with all of them speaking in interviews, at conventions, etc are the best parts of this film. The rest is utterly useless and not entertaining.As much as I love Star Wars, I can think of better ways to spend your time.

The directors of this documentary, who are Star Wars fans from his childhood, have done a good homage to actor Dave Prowse, the man behind the mask of Darth Vader.Through several interviews with people directly involved in the making of the original Star Wars trilogy the film discovers the reasons that affected the relationship between Prowse and Lucasfilm after finishing the shooting of the original trilogy. Fortunately the film provides different opinions about this matter.Last but not least, their homage also extends to other great film actors that played evil roles behind a mask.