Newsgroup: it.arti.cinema
Titolo: Mamoru Oshii recensisce LE DUE TORRI (in inglese)

"Never-Before Seen Action and Undreamt-Of Battle"
Translation by jainsafel, 03/03/03
The Lord of the Rings' great achievement is its crafting of a heretofore
unsurpassed work of creative fantasy that can weather the scrutiny of
adults. For once, long ago, "Fantasy" meant the smell of blood. There would
fate and destiny unfold together with the murder of family or the cruel
death of innocents, all holding true to the balance between Beauty and
Blood.
And that balance of Light and Dark is even more pronounced in The Two Towers
than in its predecessor. The first film left me with the strong image of
scene after (beautiful) scene of the Hobbit countryside or the Valley of the
Elves, which I felt could have been made shorter. On the one hand you must
care for the story's rhythm, but on the other, create a sense of the
Fairy-Tale. In practice this is fraught with danger and it is all too easy
to break the delicate balance between the two.
But this time, I didn't feel the passing of time at all. The opening feels
just right, unsullied as it is by any summary of the previous chapter, and
the film as a whole is easy to watch - but even better was how characters
introduced in Fellowship suddenly begin to live and breathe. Depicting the
three separate journeys of the divided Fellowship by cutting back and forth
between them makes for a far more cinematic experience. Even when taken from
a visual standpoint, I believe that groups of about three work far better
than nine people leisurely walking about.
Besides, whatever else you want to say about it, there are the battles. If I
were to give the greatest reason for this installment's success, I would
start with the making of "battle" into its theme, and end there. When you
hold the fighting as your ultimate objective, you can accomplish many things
with clarity. The film begins flowing towards that end automatically, and so
everything else snaps into place. With the incredibly powerful technique of
"battle" at one's disposal, you can push and push and push.
The most magnificent battle of all is, as you might well imagine, the
finale - the attack of Helm's Deep. I don't think the scene where the
horse-riders charge and penetrate the enemy lines would normally be cut in
that way. Typically whenever I had a situation with two sides crashing into
each other, I thought of it as the movie's task to show it all in one cut,
with the characters approaching only so far - an idea that The Two Towers
successfully discards. To do so is truly remarkable. Of course, it wouldn't
even have been possible without special effects, and yet the effect used
turns out to be an almost absurdly small, simple job. Digital effects are
often likened to magic, but in reality they take a ridiculous amount of
labor and time. Only the constant efforts of human beings keep them bound to
reality. And yet in spite of all this they use effects for such small
details, and I can only sit in amazement.
Speaking of the tactics of that scene - the long-spear wielding Uruk Hai
form a screen of spears and await the cavalry led by Gandalf. That is an
actual battle strategy, and the only way to defend against a cavalry charge.
It's not something one can pull off without studying group warfare. And just
as surely, by mimicking the great nostalgic battles of movie past, such as
those in El Cid or Ben Hur, a style of action that had all but disappeared
has been revived. This time, unlike before in Fellowship, action scenes like
the above highlight were mounted like jewels throughout the film, and I
watched and waited with eager anticipation for the next battle.
In order for these battle scenes to live, helmets, armor, and weapons become
very important, but in this too the film excels. As I said previously, the
great achievement of this series is its ability to depict a Fairy-Tale
fantasy with both its feet firmly planted on the ground. Our heroes are
merely "human"; they walk and sleep in the fields, and their hair gets dirty
and tangled. When they gird themselves for battle, the armor seems almost to
o heavy for them to bear, and when they fell an enemy, they stay felled.
These and other details the film depicts with precision. The design-work on
the helmets and armor vary depending on the clan who wear them, and you can
sense the painstaking craftsmanship that went into their creation.
As for the artwork, as always no corners are cut. Take for example the Hall
of Rohan, built in the midst of natural desolation. The scene where Eowyn
stands motionless before that Hall made of wood and stone is such a
wonderful shot - it seems to say "Ah, so people live in such a forlorn
place." I actually prefer this to the much more "fantasy-style" Tower of
Isengard.
This outing introduces many more creatures than the first. The dragon-like
flying creature that the Nazgul rides is called a wyvern [translator's note:
I thought it was just a "Fell Beast".?] - a yokuryuu ("winged dragon"), in
other words. It's quite famous in the world of fantasy, but the film version
is unusual. I had a few problems with how it flaps its wings to fly, but the
long-necked design is simply perfect. The way the wyvern makes its
appearance is a very satisfactory shot. As for the warg ridden by the Uruk
Hai, they are also famous fantasy creatures - we'd call them marou ("demon
wolves") in Japanese. I don't much care for their design, but their movement
isn't bad. More to my liking are the elephant-like oliphaunts. They are well
made and resemble the now-extinct mammoths.
The most decisive "creature" of all is the CG character Gollum, a very gutsy
move indeed. To have a CG character act - in the most important acting role
of the movie - is normally so terrifying as to be unfeasible. This touches
very close to my own professional world (animation director), and when I
look at it through those eyes I wonder if there isn't a tenuous thread
between it and the viability of animated acting?
Character-wise, there are many delicious scenes, many of them involving
Legolas the Elf, but in the end Aragorn dominates. In the first film he came
off as very easy-going due to the many love scenes, but this time those
scenes are lessened, and he becomes more fierce. There is a scene he has, a
conversation with a young soldier in the stronghold of Helm's Deep, that
comes on the heels of the outpouring of his all-too human nature in the
supply room, where war-weary old men and young boys are given their weapons
and armor. He wants to tell the boy something, but cannot find the words.
Even though the boy will probably not live to see the dawn - all this
emotion is condensed into this small episode, and it is among my favorite
scenes. In this way are we able to keep a vigilant eye on the characters,
and see the seeds sown in the first movie begin to bloom. Also working in
its favor is the series' one-year-per book organization, which keeps them
fresh in everyone's memories.
Come to think of it, I've been watching movies on the big screen only ever
since Fellowship. I have little doubt that I will also see the upcoming
Return of the King in theaters as well.
[From the Japanese Two Towers program book.]

 Mamoru Oshii
[CUT]
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