First thought:
I love this movie. The heart wrenching scenes and climactic battles give me
chills to this day. The book is obviously a classic for a reason;
wonderfully written, highly imaginative and original. Tolkien
transports the readers to the world in his books in a way that few
can accomplish. So, when I saw that there was a movie about it, I of
course had to see it as soon as I could. This film does not
disappoint. It captures the feeling of the story without taking away
from it, without going overboard or omitting too much. I have more
experience with the original cuts, so I may miss something that was
included in the extended edition in my thought process. If you mind,
go ahead and let me know!
Plotline:
Return of the King follows the
fellowship of the ring as they travel different paths on a quest to
destroy the One Ring and defeat the armies of Sauron once and for
all. The hobbits
Merry and Pippin begin the movie in Isengard (yes, that's where they
took them), and join Aragorn's group on the way to Rohan. Pippin
found a mysterious orb in Isengard, and it shows him a vision of the destruction of Gondor, a
large city. Because of this, Gandalf and Pippin head to Gondor to
warn them and prepare for the battle against the dark army. So now
we're set up for all the action to happen in the movie. Did I mention
it's a bit more than three hours long?
I'm about to explore a scene from just
a bit after all this happens, but first we need a little more
back story. Gandalf and Pippin are in Gondor, the last great city of
men. At this time, the last king of Gondor has been dead for many
years. When we arrive in Gondor, Pippin and Gandalf meet its steward,
Denethor, and we find out that he is just not a nice person. He is a
power-mad glutton who cares only for his own well being. If you've
seen the first two films, you know that Denethor is the father of
Boromir and Faramir. Boromir of course has tragically died defending
the hobbits on an earlier journey, and Denethor is not happy about
it. Faramir, his second son, is treated very poorly by his father. In
one conversation, Faramir admits that he thinks his father wishes he
had died in Boromir's place. His father, being a huge prick, agrees.
Faramir is a captain of the guard, and they have recently failed to
keep a small outpost on the shore free from the dark army. In the
scene we're going to take a look at, he is tasked with taking back
the now overrun outpost by his father.
Scene Extrapolation:
In our scene, Faramir and his soldiers
are riding to take back the outpost from the dark army of Sauron.
This is a suicide mission, and everyone involved knows it. Denethor
sent Faramir to his death for failing him, in the sense that he isn't
Boromir and so he hates him. The scene is one of a few parts in the
movie where little sound is used to emphasize the feelings of the
characters. This is a long video, but I am going to begin at the 1:34
mark.
(I don't know how to start it there, so please skip to it)
The soldiers are leaving the city for
their mission. We
are shown shots of the riders, a line of horses that covers the
entire picture. For all purposes, it looks like a lot of men. These movies are known for their minimal and highly effective use of CGI, so this seems even more real to the viewer. For this scene, the filmmakers actually called in hundreds of volunteers to ride across plains for them. We gain
a small hope, seeing them, that perhaps some of them will make it. The score is
somber, but not yet threatening. There is no sound except for the
horses running.
(They look pretty formidable for only 50 guys)
Then, we see the whole group for the
first time. It is only two lines of riders, not many at all. They are
riding upon a dark ruin of a town. We are slightly below them in frame,
they look quite noble and heroic to the viewers. Then, we see a close
up of the ruined city. It looks abandoned; a single orc comes into
frame in the lower corner. He seems curious, and we are drawn to look
where he looks: towards the horsemen. The cut changes to the riders again, from the enemy's
point of view. They are pretty heroic looking here as well, lined up
against the towering city. It cuts to the enemy captain. I think he
looks a bit smug and curious, although my judgement is not perfect
due to his face being pretty immobile.
(The emotional range is astounding)
The horses continue to gallop under
swelling music and more orcs pop up out of the ruins. There are
clearly many more of them than we thought. This whole time, we have
been on mostly the same plane as the characters so as to see their
reactions. We close up on Faramir's face again. He seems uncertain
about his choice but he must keep going to earn his father's respect.
With Faramir still in our heads, the scene switches back inside the
castle. The steward is eating at a table, with Pippin waiting nearby.
The food and Denethor are in the foreground, clear and in our faces. At this point, the camera has switched between perspectives a few times; a characteristic used in this movie to show the many characters and viewpoints involved. With such detailed scenes, we need many angles to see everything that is happening.
(He was probably the only guy with steward experience)
Pippin here is almost an afterthought, he
simply happens to be in frame. It cuts to Denethor from Pippin's point of view; he has a stain on his chin from the food. He speaks to Pippin and the
frame shows the hobbit starting, he was not paying attention. Pippin is clearly distracted thinking about Faramir. He answers
the question, “Do you sing?”, and the camera is in front of
Denethor's table again. It holds for a few moments, the steward
eating while he talks and Pippin standing small in the background.
The camera continues switching between them for a bit, getting ever
closer and closer. We are made to feel uncomfortable by Denethor's
gross eating and Pippin's obvious discomfort. Pippin then begins to
sing, and this becomes the backdrop for the rest of our scene. All we
hear is his voice and the horses running as we cut back to the
soldiers. The men continue riding towards the ruin as more and more
enemies cover the screen to face them.
(It's not this bright in the movie)
As the danger mounts, the steward is
shown intermittently eating more food. He has a blank look, as if he
doesn't care what is happening or is trying not to. Everyone is close
up now, Faramir as he charges, Pippin singing, Denethor eating. The
viewer is enthralled by this point and we are being drawn into the
emotion of the scene. The riders keep on as the enemy raises their
bows. There are so many, we can see now that the men stand no chance.
The sound of Denethor tearing and chewing the food enters, his hatred
and disinterest that sparked this entire situation are pronounced. The scene slows
to a bit less than full speed, emphasizing the choice Faramir has
made and the certain doom about to befall them. At the last line of
Pippin's song, “All shall fade”, the arrows are released. We hear
a thousand bowstrings twang, and it cuts to a closeup of Denethor,
where some fruit red like blood is running down his chin. It cuts to
Pippin, who begins to choke up as he realizes what must have
happened. We do not see the riders again, it is clear what their fate was.
This is where I will end my
look at this scene, though there are a few more seconds in the video. I feel that it illustrates the way many of the grand battle scenes are handled in this series. The perspective changes a lot between a select few important characters as we follow their emotional journeys. Often there is conflict between them, as with Faramir's sad determination and his father's forced disinterest. Adding to that, the use of score to swell our emotions with the scene is masterfully done throughout the film. With very detailed source material, the filmmakers do a good job of capturing the many events in such a way as to keep the viewer interested without flooding them with information.
Sources:
Image URLs:
http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100924180938/lotr/de/images/6/62/Gondor_Cavalry.jpg
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/rEsGoNo1NGk/maxresdefault.jpg
http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4r1ivk45l1r62bb4.jpg
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/N_EqHEJN3dc/0.jpg
Youtube/The
Lord of the Rings - The Sacrifice of Faramir (Extended Edition).
TheLotrTV,
16
Jan. 2014. Web. 18 Jan. 2015.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3qrhhMCJlI>.
The
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.
Dir. Peter Jackson. New Line Cinema, 2003. DVD.
Barsam,
Richard, and Dave Monahan. Looking
at Movies.
Fourth ed. S.l.: W. W. Norton & Company, 2013. Print.
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