Title: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings, The |
Release Date: 2001; 2002; 2003 |
Nationality and Language: |
Running time: 165 Minutes |
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Distributor and Production Company: New Line Cinema ( |
Director; Writer: Peter Jackson , based on the three-book six-part novel by J. R. R. Tolkien |
Producer: |
Cast: Sean Astin, Sean Bean, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Billy Boyd, Brad Dourif, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Ian McKellen, Dominic Monaghan, Viggo Mortensen, John Rhys-Davies, Andy Serkis, Liv Tyler, Elijah Wood |
Technical: Super Panavision, |
Relevance to DOASKDOTELL site: literary |
“The Ring is Mine!” Frodo
Baggins (maybe it isn’t). Review: Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is actually one novel in three parts, all being filmed simultaneously by New Line for a grand total of something like $280 million. The book was published in three installments in the 1950s because of its colossal length (rivaling Imajica, Atlas Shrugged and The Stand). I have not read the book yet, and I won’t go into the analysis that many Tolkien fans find whole worlds in. PBS has been running a story on Tolkien, narrated by his son, in which the development of fantasy as a literary form is developed. Tolkien, in fact, put Old English scholars on the spot with the popularity of his masterpiece. There had been an unconvincing attempt to make an animated
version as one movie in 1979. Here, in “live action” (to borrow a Disney term
from the 50s) filmed on location in The novel is a bit of a fairy tale, in which all kinds of
different creature-like people live together in a universe that his its ups and downs. Middle Earth, and the Shire, form a kind of paradise resembling old English
countryside, in which technology is replaced by magic. The knowledge of good
and evil is represented by a ring, which had been forged in a volcano by
satanic forces, and which has come into the possession of an aging Hobbit,
Bilbo Baggins (any connection with the name of the city Tolkien makes an interesting comparison to Clive Barker, whose fantasy Imajica jumps off from present day, The other thing in the tale is the male bonding. The tag team taking the ring through all of these adventures (including a Goonie journey through a tunnel and a battle with more than one troll, kind of Potter-movie-like) display male bonding of true affection (hence, “The Fellowship”), with no typical group male competition, and with little need for stereotyped heterosexual relations with women. In the last scene, Frodo says to his pal Sam, “Sam, I’m glad you’re with me.” The application of this into today’s military should not be missed. Also, although Elijah Wood plays the part like he was college age (maybe a service academy cadet on a survival exercise for special forces), in the book he is fifty (just like Bilbo had his “eleventy first”) birthday. But hobbits age very slowly, so he is still a young adult, just past his tweens. Trump would probably want him for an Apprentice. He takes risks. In Film II "The Two Towers" the basic tale of good and evil is carried further with separate plot threads. Frodo and Sam meet up with the Gollum, a pathetic creature who got contaminated and made into a radiation freak by wearing the Ring. (It’s interesting to compare the name with the term golem, a mythical being that was a central concept in a horror novel The Tribe by Bari Wood, 1984 [review at http://www.geocities.com/markleeper/golem.htm].) The tenderness of the friendship is muted a bit as Sam sometimes calls Frodo "Mr. Frodo." Toward the end there occurs one of the most spectacular battles in all of film. Frodo is tempted to put on the Ring to ward off an enemy, and Sam saves him. The salvation of civilization still depends upon two hobbits. New Line has been on a roadshow, giving brunches with panel discussions about modern movie making and how to get into the business. Advice: really finish that screenplay! Film The movie’s conclusion is drawn out as a kind of musical coda, the music during the credits then contemplative and quite before blazing at the very end in the manner of the closing of Wagner’s Gotterdamerung. The sun will rise finally on a human world, where the angels and other quasi-human creatures are consolidated into a We Are One (but see the comments about Daivd Day’s book below.) The film and book apparently relatively little of the “conversion” of Arwen (LivTyler) from seraphim to mortal human to consummate her love for Aragorn, as one could expect such an idea to generate a lot of plot in most novels (such as mine). The movie version also seems to answer the 60s button “Frodo Lives” and walks away from the military-style self-sacrifice that may have been required to save the world for humankind. (I’m told that Frodo, as a hobbit, is very privileged to live forever in the land of the elves, but then is he still part of the world with karma to work out or not?) But then, this just affirms life, doesn’t it! Viewers will want to check the book The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy: One Book to Rule The All, edited by Gregory Bassham and Eric Bronson, Chicago: Open Court, 2003, especially the essay “’My Precious’: Tolkien’s Fetishozed Ring,” by Allison Milbank. The acting performances deserve even more praise. Best
Supporting Actor may well go to Andy Serkis as the
Gollum—the film begins with his recollection of his own corruption in to
permanent alopecia by The Ring (although his body is curiously hairless even
at the outset) in the old Printemps of Middle
Earth. (The red kryptonite ring in TheWB’s Smallville and its effects on One other thing that makes this film, as a trilogy, at least, great: It connects the dots, and covers so many apparently unrelated areas of life. Not many films today do this, at least in the context of our own civilization. It seems more inviting in fantasy, as with The Matrix trilogy. Note: Tolkien, in fact, seems to be a strong proponent of “normal” love and marriage, and suggests that the Ring represents fetishism and fantasy, the attempt by humans to substitute objects for a natural calling for productive socialization with others. The
Music The animated 1978 film was directed by Ralph Bakshi and distributed by United Artists, produced by Fantasy Films. It was in normal aspect ratio and did not seem adequate to convey the sweep of the story. There was a 77 minute animated TV film of the prequel “The Hobbit” in 1977 (dir. Jules Bass, Arthur Rankin, Jr.) and a large remake would sound like a worthwhile project. |
Related reviews: Harry Potter and Barker’s book Imajica ; books analyzing LOTR |
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