2004-01-20 - 9:43 a.m.

Return of the King

So I finally got around to seeing the film. A late December release date is bad for me. The past Bond and Trek films suffered for the same reason. They came out at a time of year when I simply don't have 2 hours of free time.

But with February nearly here, I'll soon have free time.

So the film ... you'll notice that Return of the King, not Lord of the Rings, is listed as one of my favorite books. It simply is the way a story should be told. The main characters, are frankly incredibly noble, and hence the stuff that heroes are made of. The hobbits, and hence the part of the book not included in the theatre release, are totally human. In fact, I've always felt that Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin represent us. The readers, normal folks. And they are what separates Tolkien from so many authors, is not the epic tale he told (though he did do it well), but rather that he could trick us into becoming part of his epic.

I'm not afraid to admit that my eyes watered during the film. Perhaps in some of the oddest places, like when Aragorn tells the hobbits "you shall bow to no one". Why is it that we can only go to a book (or movie) to find a leader who also believes in his ideals?

By this I'm talking about current politicians. I can't think of one of them that would treat a human as an equal. Perhaps our system can't allow for this. But Aragorn has always been a character I looked up to. He never sent other men to fight battles that he wasn't willing to lead.

I'm sure I'll talk more about the film. And though I'm sad that the Calling of the Shire was left out, the film captured the essence of what I loved in the original book. Actually, for those who have not read the book, they'll never understand why those of us that have find the books so moving. To them, no doubt, the books will forever and always just be words to the movie. They'll always see those same actors, those same events, those same places. While I have no cause to complain in the slightest about the quality of the films, I usually am a fan of reading the book first.

In the case of Return of the King, I know that I was listening to Faramir and Eowyn (two more of my favorite characters from the books) talk and meet. The film cut their romance out, but then again Faramir suffered a lot in the second film too.

n.p. tears for fears :: tears roll down (greatest hits 82-92)

-=-

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