Amazing in many ways.......

Rating: Null/10 (26 March 2004)

I very reluctantly came to view the first installment, Lord of the Rings, Fellowshp of the Rings, and during the first hour it immediately picked up my interest for a number of reasons. At the end of the first film, Frodo Baggins packs up his companion, Samwise Gamgee, and they are off in a boat. I realized then that it was not enough to leave them on their own, but I wanted to find out what would happen not only to these two Hobbits but the rest of the characters who I had come to like very much. Yesterday I rented Twin Towers and was going to watch an hour only, but LOR is very much like eating popcorn..... once you start it is hard to stop.
I am writing not so much to speak of what happened and about the way it was directed and the actors who were involved, but the way the story affected me personally. Let me give you just two examples. In the scene where Gandalf the White comes into the grand hall to try to resurrect Theoden, the king of Rohan. When he is finally able and Theoden comes out of this spell and is restored, I cried. My mother, for the final four years of her life was robbed like the king.........only hers was not a spell it was Parkinsons...... How I wish I could have had someone come in and do that for her.......to restore her...... In the scene where the stronghold is being overrun by the forces of evil, the character Haldir, is fatally wounded and Aragorn comes to him in his dying moments, to try to bring some comfort. I was reminded of how many are dying just like that in Iraq and the many others who have in the past suffered the same consequences as a result of war. My sister placed a perspective this morning on the emotions I felt, as I watched Twin Towers, by saying that Tolkien envisioned this when he wrote this epic.....of the many struggles, the sacrifice, the nobility that is shown in the face of overwhelming odds. I am hopeful to see the final installment this weekend.
I believe this is in fact the greatest epic that has ever been done on film.