I
have to admit that when I was much younger I tried reading The
Lord of the Rings and was frankly not impressed. I thought
that Tolkien was far too descriptive and I never quite understood
the story line. I struggled through the first book of the trilogy
and never completed the series. I remember moving on to the stories
by C.S. Lewis, like, The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe. I have
said for years, "I just didn?t need a chapter to describe the
beard and eyebrows of Gandolf."
For
a number of reasons I decided to wait to see the movie later on
in it?s release, one of those reasons was to let the more seasoned
Tolkien readers interpret the move. I believe it is about time
to hear the opinions of one who is not a Tolkien disciple to give
their impression, especially since I haven?t seen many reviewers
that admit they are not dedicated followers. Shucks, for that
matter I have already admitted that I have never read all of the
books.
Prior
to my thoughts on the film I must state that as I have gotten
older, one of the things I have learned to appreciate in literature,
either film ,or written, is allegory. While I was younger I realize
that I didn?t fully appreciate or understand this concept. I believe
that is natural for a younger person however and is an appreciation
that ferments with time and wisdom. Not to say that I am wise
by any means but I certainly have had time to develop at least
more wisdom since my mid teen years.
With
the above said, I must say that I fully expected The Lord of
the Rings to make it into my top 100 list of all time movies
because of what I had already read about the movie. What I didn?t
expect was it to fall into my all time top 10 or even top 5 but
this movie did just that. The Lord of the Rings is a brilliant
movie with numerous parallels between good and evil. I have seen
few movies that have told this story to the magnitude of this
fine, fine film. Technically, everything from the casting to the
story itself is fascinating and visually stunning. As far as film
making goes it is as perfect as any movie ever made. What I will
say is that the movie was so good that I am planning on going
back and reading all of the books, and I plan to start over with
the first book. I realize now that I have probably matured enough
that I will enjoy them much more than I did when I was younger.
I?ll also say that the story looses very little on the screen.
At least for me, the ability to add visually increased my ability
to understand the story and this is one of those movies that is
possibly better understood from watching it on screen than from
reading it in print. This is a hard pill to swallow, especially
from one who enjoys writing and reading as much as I do.
While
I could spend a great deal of time commenting on this film technically,
I find it essential to comment on other components that draw parallels
between faith, particularly the Christian faith, and humankind.
While
I was leaving the theater one of the comments brought up to me
was that the film just seemed to end and of course there was the
death of some of the primary characters that were loved and appreciated
which my family and others did not understand. Reading what I
have of the books and from doing some investigation I was reminding
them that they needed to remember that the story does not end
with this one movie. There were two more books to be told and
we just needed to be patient because the movies were already made.
There are numerous other components of the film that dealt with
issues such as friendship, love, sacrifice, faith and many more.
This is a movie that is easy to spoil but believe me those issues
are dealt with beautifully in this film and in ways that should
challenge the viewer to become stronger in each category.
There
is one other issue dealt with in the film that I will mention.
I have heard many Christians, of all people, be critical of the
film because of it?s portrayal of evil. "It was too scary." "Inappropriate
for young children." "The story was just dark." These and other
comments confounded me, especially with the PG-13 rating the film
had received. My own personal view is that there are parts of
the film that could be scary, for especially young children, however,
I would recommend that parents still take their children to see
the film, especially if they are familiar with the story line.
My son, 12 loved the film and the action. He had many of the same
questions at the end of the movie but he was genuinely interested
in my parallels to Christianity on the drive home. While at times
he gets bored with my approach here he had a visual image that
made the translation much easier to understand. He had a better
understanding of evil and the horrors of evil. The opportunity
to discuss the spiritual components of evil as well as the sacrifice
needed to overcome that evil is evident in this film. Being able
to relate the Gospel clearly to those of all ages who do not know
of the similar sacrifices that Jesus made to save mankind are
evident.
I
also appreciated the aspect of friendship and love that was portrayed.
Lessons of real love and real friendship, to stick it out no matter
how hard the difficulties, even when we are in water way over
our heads and can?t swim. These images can parallel a dedication
to follow those we love, and ultimately Jesus Christ. To have
such a passion that we would exercise, without question, "deep
water faith."
The
Lord of the Rings is a film that I will see again and again,
and I will look forward to each new adventure I find along the
way. It is that kind of movie that makes this possible. It is
the kind of film that still had a packed house several months
after the initial opening. I expect it to be in theaters for a
long time, and personally, I ?m ready to get in line for the next
movie in December.
10
months of willingness to wait for the next release has me giving
a perfect and rare - 10
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