The Fellowship of the Ring, full length version

I’ve just seen the special extended DVD version of The Fellowship of the Ring, and it is much better than the theatrical version, of which I have spoken in the utmost negative terms in the past. The 30 added minutes transform two key aspects of the movie. First, the opening scenes in the Shire are now entrancing; you feel the way of life of the hobbits, their unique character, and their contentment and happiness, and this establishes the dramatic “base” of the story, the good life that gives meaning to the terrible quest that must be undergone to save that life. Second, the extra dialog and expository material involving Aragorn makes his character understandable, which was not the case in the theatrical version. Instead of his seeming, as he does in the shorter version of the movie, like this ratty, haunted guy who’s been hanging out on the street doing drugs for the last ten years, and you’re wondering, who is this creepy person and what is he doing in this movie, you understand that he’s hung up because of the terrible failure of his ancestor Isildur 3,000 years ago, when instead of destroying the One Ring, he held onto it and so destroyed himself and brought ruin on his kingdom, and Aragorn fears that he has the same moral weakness in himself. In the book, Aragorn is a complete, mature man, and only keeps his royal majesty hidden because the time for him to be King has not yet arrived. In the movie, Aragorn is a wounded, troubled man, who holds himself back for psychological, not external reasons. This “psychologization” of Aragorn, while it might not have been my choice had I written the movie, nevertheless works well in contemporary terms. Aragorn doesn’t believe in himself, and so he resists his destiny to be King, and doesn’t care about the people of Gondor either. But in the magnificent dying scene of Boromir, after the tremendous fight against the Uruk Kai above the banks of the Great River, it all comes together. Aragorn, who had earlier shown undisguised contempt for the people of Gondor, almost spitting out the words, “I wouldn’t lead the Ring within a hundred leagues of Gondor,” now speaks of them to Boromir as “our people,” and the brave, tortured Boromir, who had sought this and hoped for it, dies fulfilled, knowing that now there is a chance that his people will live. It is deeply moving.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at November 06, 2005 01:14 AM | Send