Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (analytical review)

SPOILERSSS

Since many a person has seen the Lord of the Ring (LOTR) series let me just say that it is my favorite. I'm pretty biased, haven't read the books (though it is on my to-do list), and now that I look at it with a more analytical heart I find the editing, cinematography, and mis en scene all amazing as well. I guess a film class can really be an applicable class (and not just a waste of money). It's given the movie a more Christian perspective and the class has also given a deeper perspectives on why Peter Jackson did what he did in LOTR.

So I guess to boot I should answer all three of those questions. The reason I say that it deepens the story in terms of giving the story a deeper Christian perspective is because the cinematography and all the other technical aspects gives this to the active viewer and merely shows it to the passive. In the narration there is a dialog of how it was a "pity that Bilbo didn't kill Gollum when he had a chance." Gandalf then goes on in the dialog by saying one of my favorite lines in the first movie. "Pity? Men that have lived deserved death. Men that have died deserved life. Can you give it to them Frodo? Do not be too eager to give out death and judgement. Even the very wise can't see all ends." It shows the greater Christian perspective on how to treat others. It is not with contempt or judgement but rather see what is happening within their lives.

There is a shot that just makes me want to pause the movie and just let me view the scene. It is not one of the many gorgeous establishing shots during the course of the movie and it is not of Arwen, but rather it's of Boromir. Boromir, Boromir, how I love you because you embody the struggle of man, the fall of man, and the redemption of man all within one movie! During the end of the movie when Boromir is about to be killed (did I mention that there are spoilers?)he feels sorry for the fact that he has tried to steal the One Ring from Frodo. He is kneeling in front of the head Uruk Hai, the epitome of sin and what has become of an elf when dealing with an evil magic. This is where I want to pause because right as this happens it is the mis en scene that shows the symbolic nature of sin and what it does to men, it kills them and pierces them with arrows (kind of like what is said in the Bible). Then Aragorn comes and rescues him (he is the representation of Christ which is repeated over and over within the dialog. Aragorn is the "savior", the one who "cast himself in exile", and has the blood of the savior before him). He comes and tries to help Boromir and Boromir says that he would follow Aragorn "to the end. You are my brother, leader, and my king!" And it is at that point where he is redeemed and the light shines upon his face in an unnatural sort of way. Oh! So good!

Well time for the more technical parts: why does Peter Jackson do what he does. To start on the hows of Peter Jackson, the editing and cinematography are top-notch in this movie. The one big part about editing that I love are the point of view shots and the editing in the battle scenes. Peter Jackson does something that many did not do before which is to make it so that we are either in the view of the arrow coming or we are the arrow itself. This makes the battles more dramatic but it also enhances the way we see the battle. Another way how the point of view shots are great is how they do point of view shots from the water. They rock the camera almost as if we are stalking the fellowship and are preying on them, watching them in a more distant way. It makes us get into the eyes of the enemy and it is superb to see!

The places where the editing takes flight is during the battle scenes. The camera almost pans as fast as it can when it does certain establishing shots and whenever the Fellowship is battling other creatures the close ups and the cuts are milliseconds long. They aren't jarring, where the crowd is disturbed but it is almost to a point where the crowd wants all the faces to back off and just go away and the result is that the battle seems chaotic and in-your-face, which it is. Sorry for the run-ons but this is pretty exciting stuff for a nerdy boy like me. The camera almost shakes sometimes like they do as if the cameraman is running away from the creatures.

Anyways, now that I have left you that bit of information, I hope you should look at the LOTR series with a little more analysis and just to tell those that haven't seen it 1) shame on you for looking at the spoilers and 2) hope you enjoy this classic tale of good, evil, temptation, and redemption. Just remember that "even the smallest person can change the course of the future."