Tolkien, J.R.R.: (01) The Fellowship of the Ring (movie)

In some ways, this is an anti-book log entry, because I deliberately did not re-read The Fellowship of the Ring before going to see the movie. I wanted to be able to see the movie on its own terms, at least as much as I could given its nature as an adaptation. I think this was the right decision; I knew in a general way what the sequence of events was, but since the book’s precise chronology wasn’t fresh in my mind, the narrative tension seemed to be enhanced. And while I couldn’t, and can’t, help but to compare the two, I didn’t realize that a lot of things were done differently until after the movie was over; much less distracting.

I loved the movie; I was bouncing up and down with joy for hours afterwards, and wanted to see the next two immediately—never mind this post-production stuff, just give me the raw footage. (I intend to see it again, and very soon; I think that I’ll be able to enjoy it on its own terms even more now that the questions of what’s been changed, how are the actors, etc., have been answered. Besides, I’m told I missed a few details—and it’s just so much fun.) I think, too, that it’s as good an adaptation of the book (ah, now we get into the book, justifying this entry into the book log) as one could have hoped for.

First, the actors are all excellent. Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, and Viggo Mortensen are particularly wonderful realizations of the characters, but really, just about everybody fits beautifully. (The main exception, for me, was Liv Tyler as Arwen, but that may be because she was only on screen briefly, too briefly for me to sink into the character. Given my fears about Arwen Warrior Princess, I was pleased to not actually hate her, though, so overall I’m neutral on that.) Second, the look of the film is just astounding; the landscapes and buildings and scenery are all just as I’d imagined, or better (as I’m not so good on imagining landscapes). Third, much of the dialogue is lifted whole from the book and rendered wonderfully.

More generally, and perhaps more importantly, the good parts of the the movie enhance my vision of the book, both the parts I loved and even some of the things in the book that I liked less—presenting them in a way that turns them into assets (and perhaps even making them more akin to what Tolkien intended, but that class and time and nationality and gender got between his intention and my reading). The movie streamlines the oddly-paced opening; presents Sam in a much less annoying fashion, and integrates the hobbits’ comic relief extremely smoothly and deftly; deepens some of the characterizations with a few small additions and the great work of the actors; and modifies the breaking of the Fellowship just enough to give a different, and to me slightly more plausible, reading of some of the characters’ motivations. (I regret that the Council of Elrond had to be changed, as it’s one of my favorite parts of the book, but I can understand that it wouldn’t translate well onto the screen.)

Of the bits of the movie that I didn’t like—which are very few—they won’t ruin the book for me, as they were overly-literal renderings of a couple of scenes that I will simply continue to use my own imagination for when I next re-read. Another may be cast in a slightly different light by subsequent installments, so I shall defer judgment. The movie is, manifestly, not the book; but it is a wonderful complement to the book, and as good I as ever hoped.

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