Subject:
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Re: Fellowship on Film
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.fun
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Date:
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Fri, 21 Dec 2001 07:49:14 GMT
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Viewed:
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285 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.fun, Aaron Dalan writes:
> First of all, do NOT take any small children to see this film. I would say
> probably 10 would be the youngest who should see it, and that is pushing it.
> Younger kids will have nightmares for weeks, possibly years, if they are
> subjected to this film.
Yes, kids younger than 10 should start reading the book. By the time they
finish they will have no problem with the film. (It is PG-13.)
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> SPOILER NOTICE
>
> See Dave S's very funny spoiler list.
> I will add a few thoughts. The "big" moments from the book are, for the
> most part, nicely captured and depicted in the film. The bridge of Kazad
> Duhm, Boromir's seduction by the ring and subsequent repentance, the attack
> by the black riders of the Inn at Bree. PJ did a good job of depicting
> Hobbits as happy go lucky types.
> I do have a few small criticisms:
> All the scenes with Arwen are unintentionally hilarious.
Also any scene with an Orc in it! Those guys are clowns!
> They reworked the
> Flight at the Fords scene to make Arwen the hero, thus depriving the entire
> episode of its power.
It's too bad Frodo doesn't get to say those lines. But the scene is not
entirely unimpressive with Arwen saying them.
> In the film, Aragorn finds Frodo right before Frodo abandons the fellowship,
> they say a few moving lines to one another, then Frodo shambles off.
Actually Aragorn tells him "Run, Frodo!" while he goes to chop some orc,
presumably to buy time for Frodo to escape.
> Tolkien's perspective of Aragorn is that he would NEVER have abandoned
> Frodo. It wouldn't have been any more expensive or time consuming to stick
> to the script at that point, and it lost something.
But there would have been all that tension with the Company puzzling out
just what Frodo had done, nobody knowing for sure. So the movie takes a
short cut to get closure on that. In the book, Boromir, and Aragorn too had
agreed to go only that far with Frodo (until the death of Gandalf made
Aragorn leader.) He still really really wants to go to Gondor. But in the
movie it's not even clear that they are deliberating their course. All in
all, I was confused by this scene. Aragorn sure lets him go easily! Isn't it
in the Ranger Code to say "But I insist..."?
Let's look at what the paper characters say afterward:
*****
'But why should he leave us behind, and without a word?" said Gimli. 'That
was a strange deed!'
'And a brave deed,' said Aragorn.'Sam was right, I think. Frodo did not wish
to lead any friend to death with him in Mordor. But he knew that he must go
himself. Something happened after he left us that overcame his fear and doubt.'
'Maybe hunting Orcs came upon him and he fled,' said Legolas.
'He fled, certainly.' said Aragorn, 'but not, I think, from Orcs.' What he
thought was the cause of Frodo's sudden resolve and flight Aragorn did not
say. The last words of Boromir he long kept secret.
... they debate what to do ...
'I will follow the Orcs,' he said at last. 'I would have guided Frodo to
Mordor and gone with him to the end; but if I seek him now in the
wilderness, I must abandon the captives to torment and death. My heart
speaks clearly at last: the fate of the Bearer is in my hands no longer. The
Company has played its part. Yet we that remain cannot forsake our
companions while we have strength left. Come! We will go now. Leave all that
can be spared behind! We will press on by day and dark!'
-The Two Towers, Book 3, chapter 1
*** Note: "Let's hunt some Orc!' is NOT in the book. I had to stifle a laugh
over that line.
So the deciding factor in not following Frodo is that the other Companions
are still in danger. And Aragorn still thinks he ought also to follow Frodo.
The movie doesn't quite work that way: Aragorn lets Frodo go twice. Then he
saves Gimli's pride by pointing out they can help Merry and Pippin...
******** Later Frodo thinks aloud while lost in Emyn Muil:
'I should have left the Company long before, and come down from the North,
east of the River and of the Emyn Muil, and so over the hard of Battle Plain
to the passes of Mordor. But now it isn't possible for you and me to find a
way back, and the Orcs are prowling on the east bank....
-Book 4, chapter 1 (Boromir mentioned these Orcs twice in Book 2)
But earlier Frodo had resolved to follow Aragorn down the river to Amon Hen,
while Boromir yet urged him to make for Minas Tirith.
Here's a chestnut:
Gimli: 'a Dwarf goes on, be the burden twice his own weight, Master Boromir!'
... later ...
Boromir: 'Here we must pass another night. We are all too tired--except, no
doubt, our sturdy dwarf.' Gimli made no reply: he was nodding as he sat.
the next day they pass the Argonath...
-Book 2, chapter 9.
I'm not too keen on the movie dwarf jokes!
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Fellowship on Film
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| (...) I agree. In the book, Aragorn really, REALLY wanted to go to Gondor. But after Gandalf died, he knew it was his duty to protect Frodo and attempt to lead the quest for the Ring. He was in great doubt as to what to do. That is why the (...) (23 years ago, 21-Dec-01, to lugnet.off-topic.fun)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Fellowship on Film
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| First of all, do NOT take any small children to see this film. I would say probably 10 would be the youngest who should see it, and that is pushing it. Younger kids will have nightmares for weeks, possibly years, if they are subjected to this film. (...) (23 years ago, 21-Dec-01, to lugnet.off-topic.fun)
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