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MOVIE REVIEW: LORD OF THE RINGS - THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING

 

… or my review of the long awaited movie and an essay on the appeal of J.R.R.
Tolkien and his magical world.

 

 

 “Exciting, dramatic, passionate, beautiful, chilling, palpable evil,
breathtaking vistas…”

 

These are all words I’ve used to describe this movie to those who haven’t seen
it yet. This magnum opus that took more than 4 years to produce, 16 months to
film and by the time the remaining two movies in the trilogy are finished with
post-production will altogether cost half a billion dollars to produce and
market. Weighing in at almost three hours running time, this movie is not for
the attention span challenged.

 

Recent polls have consistently declared that J.R.R. Tolkien is "the most
influential author of the century" and THE LORD OF THE RINGS is "the book of the
century." This movie is perhaps the most heavily anticipated movie since a Star
Wars movie. Many said it couldn’t be made; Christopher Tolkien, J.R.R. Tolkien’s
son and literary executor, said it shouldn’t be made. Nevertheless, it is a film
event of epic proportions. Tolkien’s three-volume “book” THE LORD OF THE RINGS
(LOTR) took over 16 years to write and over 50 years to turn into a movie. The
producers are to be congratulated for a relatively faithful depiction of one of
the greatest high epic romances and most realized heroic sagas of modern
literature. Tolkien deals with questions both fundamental and timeless, the
nature of good and evil, of man, and of God. More on that later.

 

 

Comparisons:

 

The two most natural movies for this “phenomena” to be compared to are Harry
Potter and Star Wars. The recent release of the Harry Potter movie is both a
record breaker and a media event. The wildly successful publication of 100
million copies of the (so far) four books caused great anticipation for the
film. But there are several differences. When people as how I compare the two, I
say Harry Potter is “Diet Tolkien.” While J.K. Rowling did her research in
arcane mythology, Tolkien was a professor of the subjects that informed his
writings and was a much better writer besides. Harry Potter is unabashedly
targeted toward children; only Tolkien’s THE HOBBIT did so. And did I mention
he’s a much better writer? Further, the Harry Potter movie’s slavish fidelity to
the book made it technically faithful, but caused it to lack some of the
whimsical humor of the book.

 

In sweep, it is similar to Star Wars, but the reference is actually backwards.
THE LORD OF THE RINGS influenced Star Wars, not vice-versa. As only Gandalf
could defeat the Balrog, only Obi-wan could confront Darth Vader. George Lucas
also employed the idea of a seemingly ordinary orphan who has to deal with great
evil at the cost of sacrifice of himself and others.

 

 

Nice Touches:

 

Jon Stewart of The Daily Show has said, “Tolkien fans make Trekkies look like
dilettantes.” I’ve had the pleasure of being both. This movie has a number of
little tidbits of Tolkien trivia to delight the faithful. These incidental
pleasures along the way, almost “throw away” touches, add to the enjoyment that
the enthusiasts will appreciate. Much though not all of the dialogue was taken
from the book verbatim.

 

Both Gandalf and Bilbo casually sing Tolkien’s song, “The Road Goes Ever On” as
they set off on trips from Hobbiton.

 

The original inscription on the Ring is in an elvish script but is of the
language of Mordor, and the Black Speech can be heard intoned at the Council of
Elrond in Rivendell while the attendees argue about what is to be done with the
One Ring.

 

On the Pass over the Misty Mountains at Caradhras, the Fellowship is shown
wading through the snow up to their chests. Legolas the Elf runs across the top
of the snow.

 

Gandalf is heard muttering the words “long expected party” and “riddles in the
dark”, the hobbits mention "a short cut to mushrooms," all of which are chapter
titles in the book.

 

Going through Bilbo’s papers in Hobbiton we see the original map to the Lonely
Mountain from THE HOBBIT.

 

There were some unexpected touches as well. The final fight between Aragorn and
Lurtz, the captain of the Uruk-hai orcs was not in the book as such, and the
exciting conclusion brought applause at my theater. And the hobbits discovering
that beer comes in huge “pints” at the Prancing Pony Inn in Bree was amusing.

 

As described by Tolkien, Hobbits had “ears only slightly pointed” and the movie
depicted them well, differentiated from the pointed ears of the Elves and all
the while not looking like Vulcan ears.

 

The design work for Hobbiton was fabulous, absolutely spot-on. The velvet
landscape of New Zealand was terrific.

 

 

Music:

 

Good music can enhance a movie; great music is like a beautiful frame around a
picture and can make it transcendent. Well known examples include The Godfather,
Field of Dreams, The Natural, Dances With Wolves, and Little Women. In LOTR the
soundtrack is occasionally good but not great. I’ve been listening to the
soundtrack for about a month, and it does not stand alone. Most of the music
sounds rather Wagnerian. In the initial battle scene it works, but elsewhere it
thuds. Wagnerian music rarely works in movies with the notable exception of
“Excalibur” the film adaptation of Mallory’s Arthurian legend “Le Mort
d’Arthur.” And I will admit it worked in the climactic light sabre battle with
Darth Maul in “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.”

 

Alternatively, the soundtrack contains Celtic flute music that well conveys the
semi-rustic world of the hobbits. On the positive side, the occasional songs in
Elvish, for example, both Quenya and Sindarin in the lament of Gandalf worked
well. And the two pieces by Enya were ethereal and haunting. It was a shame that
her second piece, “May It Be” was relegated to the end credits. Nevertheless,
her otherworldly tone and style seemed perfectly matched to the movie.

 


SHORTCOMINGS:

 

It seems somehow sacrilegious to criticize this huge movie.

 

Were there things missing? Of course.

Were there favorite parts left out? Sure.

Was there too much of some things and not enough of others. Certainly:

 

“How do you film a book that has been read by 100 million people, has 400
websites dedicated to it, and whose fans have not only taken on the names of the
characters, but are capable of conversing in the book's invented languages? Very
carefully indeed.”  Internet newsgroup

 

There is necessary, though regrettable condensation and compression of the story
otherwise found in the book, but I must point out a few.

 

Lothlorien holds a special place in his readers’ hearts as the closest thing to
Faerie on (Middle) earth. In this movie it had an unexpected dark feel depicted
by gothic arches. There is little light, and few encounters with Elves. Indeed,
the magic of mallorn trees, which since moving to Colorado I assumed to be
related somehow to golden aspens, is never depicted in the film.

 

Rivendell, another elvish refuge is more faithfully rendered like the artwork of
noted Tolkien illustrators Alan Lee and John Howe, with a few ruins showing its
ancient heritage, but besides Elrond and Legolas’ traveling companions from
Mirkwood, it is bereft of Elves! There is no music, no song, no telling of tales
for which Rivendell is renown.

 

Many of the faithful have complained that the character of Arwen subsumed that
of Glorfindel, and that she had a much larger role than in the book – third
billing in this film. This is true: her interchange with Strider (Aragorn) is
not played out until the Appendix at the end of the third book, where there is a
beautiful and sad tale told. She certainly plays a more warrior-like role than
in the books, but I can understand the producer’s interest in adding some “eye
candy” to the movie. In general there is only one other large female role
(Galadriel) in this film and Liv Tyler is one of Hollywood’s hot stars. Her
affected English accent and deep voice give her a greater gravity than her usual
roles.

 

Casting:

 

For years, a popular spectator sport on Internet newsgroups and Web discussion
boards has been arguing about the “dream team” of who to cast for LOTR, should
it ever be made into a movie.

 

Some have complained that there was too much of Bilbo at the beginning of the
movie and not enough of Frodo. But I disagree. The beginning of the movie
certainly gives greater emphasis to Bilbo than Frodo. When Tolkien originally
wrote the first part of Fellowship of the Ring, it was intended as a sequel to
his book THE HOBBIT. Further, Ian Holm is a much better actor with a huge corpus
of work (compared to the 20 year old Elijah Wood) and nicely fits the role as if
he has done it before. Indeed, he has. In the 1970s he played Frodo in the BBC
radio production of The Lord Of The Rings. And one of his most memorable roles
is as the faerie Puck in the 1968 BBC TV production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer
Night Dream (starring the young Dames Judi Dench and Diana Rigg!) Elijah Wood’s
treatment of Frodo was beautiful but not terribly developed. His preternaturally
wide-set Bambi eyes were dazzling. Indeed the Hobbits in general were cast for
their large eyes. But the character of Frodo is not developed in Elijah Wood.
His relationship with Sam however, is well treated. At times they seem like Huck
Finn and Tom Sawyer. This is not surprising considering Elijah Wood played the
title role in the 1993 film “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” I trust that
the later films will give him a chance to grow. This role is a star maker (can
you say: “Mark Hammil”?)

 

Sam Gamgee was well cast in Sean Astin. Despite his on-again-off-again rustic
English accent, he is delightfully charming in the role and really develops the
feel of the close relationship between the two heroes that will be given even
more attention in the second movie.

 

Gandalf, portrayed by Ian McKellen surprised me. Known most recently for his
role as Magneto in the film X-Men and for starring on Broadway currently in
Dance of Death, he made the role of Gandalf his own. He added just the right
amount of magisterial presence and subtle humor. He stole every scene he was in,
and left the viewer wanting more. Brilliant.

 

Galadriel was superb as portrayed by Cate Blanchett. She added just the right
amount of Elizabethan poise (no pun intended) with an elvish remoteness. Some
inadequacies of writing and over-compression of the time in Lothlorien, I felt
did not allow her to convey the august and deep wisdom of the wisest of Elf
women in Middle-earth. Rather, some curious and overly heavy special effects
during the “Mirror of Galadriel” scene had her come off uncharacteristically
sinister. Scenes were clearly cut here (which we’ll have to wait for the DVD to
see) like the distribution of gifts to the departing Fellowship, which left a
rushed feel to the visit. One scene, however, gave me an insight I didn’t catch
in the book. As the Fellowship departs by river, she waves from the shore, in a
pose and dress that seems saintly. Somehow, I had always missed something that
Tolkien had intended, “...I think it is true that I owe much of (the character
of Galadriel) to Christian and Catholic teaching and imagination about Mary...”

 

Merry and Pippin were a little off, not so much in the casting as in the
writing. They appeared too mischievous, obvious vehicles of “comic relief.”
While not quite R2D2 and C3PO, they lacked the sincere, if immature,
honorability we saw in the books. The second movie will give them a chance to
stand out.

 

Elrond’s Hugo Weaving was curious. I could not get out of my mind his best-known
role as Agent Smith in the film The Matrix. In fact, at one point in the film,
my family turned to each other and said “Mr. Anderson,” a line he frequently
used in that movie, referring to Keanu Reeves. While a well known New Zealand
actor with almost 40 films to his credit, he’s not as familiar to viewers in the
US. In LOTR he portrayed the appropriate amount of fierce battle anger in the
opening scene of the “Last Alliance of Men and Elves” against the evil Sauron.
This is one of the best mounted scenes in the movie, with fabulous special
effects that reminded the viewer of the recent film The Mummy. But in other
scenes he seemed high handed and almost irritated. In fact, in the movie all the
high Elves (excluding Legolas) seemed constipated or at least irritated. Elrond
seemed particularly out of sorts in all the scenes in Rivendell.

 

Boromir as played by Sean Bean was outstanding. He skillfully handles the dual
role of noble lord and duplicitous Fellowship member. He is well know from the
007 movie Goldeneye for his turncoat role as 006/Janus traitor.

 

Strider/Aragorn played by Viggo Mortensen I had trouble with. He was not
originally cast in this role, and I would not have cast him thus. While I can’t
deny that he did a yeoman’s job of acting, I see Aragorn as a more mature man. A
younger Gregory Peck or Sean Connery would have suited me nicely, but Viggo does
not have the mileage, despite the grizzled appearance. While I’m on the subject,
his fighting scenes were unconvincing. The fast editing and quick cuts are
usually a sign of a poverty of good choreography or fencing skill. I think both
are true here. In contrast, movies like The Three Musketeers, Rob Roy, even
Shakespeare in Love (with noted sword fight master William Hobbs) had sword work
and fight scenes worth watching. In LOTR, the fencing and fight scenes were
almost universally awful.

 

Gimli’s John Rhys-Davies, so enchanting as Sallah in the Indiana Jones movies,
was delightful here. Some would not recognize him, because his makeup looked
like it was applied with a shovel and his hair was braided like a miniature
Klingon. But why, as he describes the descent into Mordor, does the filmmaker
give him an Edinburgh, Scotland accent?

 

Legolas by Orlando Bloom was delightful. Tall, graceful and lithe, with less
than a dozen movies to his credit I’ll look forward to his performance in the
upcoming film Black Hawk Down.

 

 

Who was JRR Tolkien?

 

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in South Africa in 1892 but his family moved
to the midlands of England following his father’s death when JRR was 4. He lived
his whole life in England and had a particular fondness for its languages and
those of northwestern Europe. As a child and young man he learned almost a dozen
languages, not only the classical but also many European languages and had a
hobby of inventing languages. It was to create a backdrop for these languages,
an historical and cultural context, that he wrote The Lord Of The Rings. These
books mention some of his 15 invented languages including: Sindarin (everyday
elvish, inspired by his fascination with Welsh) and Quenya (high-Elven, a kind
of Elvin Latin, inspired by the Finnish language.) Less developed, but present
nonetheless are Entish, Khudzul (Dwarvish) and the Black Speech (the language of
Mordor, e.g. the Ring inscription) as well as Adunaic, the language of Númenor.

 

As a philologist (“lover of words”), Tolkien was principally known for his work
in medieval languages, particularly Anglo-Saxon (Old English) as well as Middle
English and has written the authoritative translation of “Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight.” He had a hand as an editor of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED)
and served as translator of the modern Catholic translation of the Jerusalem
Bible. He taught at the University of Oxford and eventually Merton College in
particular.

 

Middle-earth Tolkien intended to be the northwest of the Old World, remote in
history, indeed, in an imaginary and archaic time line of about 6000 years ago
before the “shape of all lands has been changed.” The Old English is
middan-geard and may be recognized by some as Midgard of Norse mythology, the
place of men between Asgard (heaven) of the gods, and Hel’s Niflheim below.

 

The Shire, the land of our hobbits, Tolkien said in his letters, “is in fact
more or less a Warwickshire village of about the period of the Diamond Jubilee.”
It is "an imaginary mirror" of rural England.

 

 

Tolkien’s Appeal:

 

Tolkien was a devout Roman Catholic Christian. He was a friend of C.S. Lewis
who, when they met, was an atheist. Due largely to discussions with Tolkien,
C.S. Lewis converted to Christianity, and became one of the best known and best
loved Christian apologist of the 20th century. He is also known for his charming
fantasy series THE CHRONICALS OF NARNIA. A group of writers including Lewis,
known as The Inklings met, usually on Tuesday mornings, at a pub in Oxford
called “The Eagle and Child” (known by the locals as The Bird and Baby) where
they’d share a pint and read what they were working on to each other. Today, in
the pub, you’ll find pictures of them on the wall in the room where they
regularly met.

 

Tolkien described his creation of Middle-earth more as “discovery” rather than
invention, and discussed at length his work as “sub-creation” work that God’s
creatures do in imitation and honor of Him. "Because we are made: and not only
made, but made in the image and likeness of a Maker." Readers resonate with it,
seeing his “faerie story” as more real than reality, describing a world that, if
they don’t live in, they want to live in. It is perhaps the most fully realized
fantasy world in terms of a variety of languages, cultures, geographies, natural
history, races, politics, and history.

 

The most illuminating discussion of the nature of evil is discussed not only in
LOTR but also more fully in the creation story at the beginning of the LOTR’s
“prequel,” THE SILMARILLION. In a letter Tolkien writes, "We have come from God
and inevitably the myths woven by us, though they contain error, will also
reflect a splintered fragment of the true light, the eternal truth that is with
God. Indeed, only by myth-making, only by becoming a "sub-creator" and inventing
stories, can Man ascribe to the state of perfection that he knew before the
fall."

 

Many consider LOTR to be some form of allegory. But he writes in his
introduction to FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, “… I cordially dislike allegory in all
its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to
detect its presence. I much prefer history, true or feigned, with its varied
applicability to the though and experience of readers. I think that many confuse
‘applicability’ with ‘allegory’; but the one resides in the freedom of the
reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author.”

 

Religious cult and practice is curiously absent. That is because, as Tolkien
said in a letter, “The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious
and Catholic work, unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision.
That is why I have not put in, or have cut out, practically all references to
anything like ‘religion’, to cults or practices, in the Imaginary world. For the
religious element is absorbed into the story and the symbolism.” His writing is
advised by his faith. Indeed, it reflects his deep Christian longing.

 

A number of archetypes shine through. For example, Tolkien has several different
aspects of “Christ-figures” in his story. Frodo is the suffering servant, with a
great burden he must bear through the darkness to the very Cracks of Doom.
Aragorn is the hidden monarch who passes through the Paths of the Dead and later
is revealed as King. Gandalf dies and is resurrected. Sam is ever faithful and
matures through his trials to learn compassion and eventually returns to heal
the homeland – the great events of the book begin and end with him. These
archetypes, as well as others, though subtler than allegory, are more powerful
and deeply profound.

 

Tolkien’s gift for description of physical locations is one of the greatest
appeals of his writings and he guides the reader’s imagination to unbelievable
vistas. His popularity exploded, especially in the United States during the mid
and late 60’s particularly with the “counter-culture” largely because of his
concern with environmental issues.

 

The late 60s saw Leonard Nimoy (Star Trek’s Mr. Spock) record the single “Bilbo
Baggins,” people wore “Frodo Lives” buttons, and residence halls at the
University of California, Santa Cruz were given Middle-earth names.

 

 

Conclusion:

 

Of all the books I have ever read in my life, besides the Scriptures, THE LORD
OF THE RINGS has most directly and profoundly changed my life. It has guided my
view of the world and of destiny, it colors the way I look at nature – trees and
streams and mountain peaks.

 

And it is the most powerful book about redemption. This theme, which is so
popularly portrayed in LES MISERABLES, is the basis of a mature perspective on
life. As Tolkien wrote in a letter that is now the introduction to the second
edition of THE SILMARILLION (the larger canvas upon which the history of LOTR is
drawn and is just a small part), “All stories are about the Fall.”

 

It informs my view of the inevitability of sadness. The one scene I most wished
to be in the movie is when the hobbits are scared on Weathertop and ask
Strider/Aragorn to tell them a story. He tells them the most beautiful story he
knows, that of the elf-maiden Luthien Tinuviel and the man Beren. These two
star-crossed lovers braved the fortress of Morgoth, the ancient evil to whom
Sauron was but a servant, for love of each other and to claim the bride-price
for their marriage. Their doom is shrouded in legend but tells of their death
and a life beyond… and foreshadows the romance of Aragorn and the elf-maiden
Arwen.

 

Strider/Aragorn begins the story by saying, “it is a fair tale, though it is sad
in the telling, as are all the tales of Middle-earth.” Toward the end of his
life, JRR wrote a letter to his son Christopher describing his wife (and
Christopher’s mother) Edith. It was she who inspired him to write the story of
Luthien and Beren when in a woodland glade many years before she had danced
among the trees. He wrote to his son, “the sufferings that we endured after our
love began… and to explain how these never touched our depths nor dimmed our
memories of our youthful love. For ever (especially when alone) we still met in
the woodland glade, and went hand in hand many times to escape the shadow of
imminent death before our last parting."

 

JRR died only a couple of years after his wife. On their single tombstone in
Oxford reads:

 

Edith Mary Tolkien, Luthien, 1889 - 1971

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, Beren, 1892 - 1973

 

Read the books -- they will change your life.

 

Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood historian

www.billpetro.com