It Never Lets Go

(This is a continuation of the 3/19 post . . . )

The trailer for The Two Towers (#1) gives a starting point into what is going on in this part of the story: "The fellowship is broken. The power of darkness grows . . " And then it goes into the dramatic conflicts of the film. The first thing you see for Frodo and Sam is that they are lost. This creates a new dramatic situation for their storyline. They are without a guide and unable to find their way through a completely alien landscape. You pick up on this effect that the fellowship has broken. The fellowship had provided direction and protection; now these are gone. Thus enters Gollum. Drawn near by the ring, he is captured and becomes the guide for Frodo and Sam's expedition.

I mentioned previously about how Gollum really occupies the headspace of the audience for much of this film. He is so powerfully intriguing in his miserable enslavement to the ring, his schizophrenic parts, his conflict over Frodo and Sam, and his utter terror over the ring and its original master.

Meanwhile, all the forces of evil are arrayed against the world of men. Gandalf and Aragorn are running all over Middle Earth to rouse the people to war and prepare for the defense. And evil keeps coming. The twin forces of Sauron and Saruman are barreling down on their enemies, and time is short.

This is the environment of the second film. Sequentially speaking, you have some distinct phases. You have a kind-of reintroduction phase to get you back in Middle Earth and relocate the characters. Then there is a build-up phase where the dramatic elements start to come in: the Gollum story, Saruman's attack on Rohan, Rohan's weakness, Merry & Pippin trying to get away from the orcs, the depature of the elves, the ring's increasing hold on Frodo. Right in the midst of this is one of my favorite scenes from The Two Towers. Frodo and Sam have stumbled into The Dead Marshes. Frodo is lured into an almost dreamlike state and falls into the pools. He is pulled out of that danger and shocked to find that Gollum has rescued him. They travel a little farther, and Gollum is speaking of the ring's power. He says "Master knows . . once it gets hold of us, it never lets go." He is speaking right into Frodo's feelings. Frodo has begun to see the ring corrupting his own desires, and he is taken by it, unable to extract himself from its power. This is one of the creepy things about the second one: the evil characters are speaking right into a situation, and the good characters are feeling those same things inside. They are being offered a devilish alternative to their painful predicament. (Another example is Grima "Wormtongue" who can read what is going on for Eowyn and offers himself as the solution).

Then the real gripper of tension is the Nazgul flying by overhead. Gollum is saying, "He is calling for it. He is calling for the Precious", and Frodo is yielding to his desire to put it on. It's a real peak of tension. And then Sam snaps Frodo out by grabbing his hand. The eery music quits, and it's back to Frodo and Sam.

After that build-up phase, I think you have the "inevitable" phase. War is coming to Rohan, and it's not ready. Frodo is going to the world of men and is captured. Merry and Pippin can't get Treebeard to stop Saruman from his attacks. This is where the story drives toward the hopeless point, where all the odds are stacked in the favor of the enemy. You go back and revisit the hopelessness of Arwen and Aragorn's relationship, how fate has stepped in between their love. You see an exasperated Merry telling Pippin that there won't be a Shire to return to. You look at Eowyn's desperate attempts to get Aragorn to be her rescue. And you have Aragorn locked behind a fortress wall forced to lead an undermanned band of farmers and farriors against the impending march of the bloodthirsty orcs.

Then you have the terrific "fights" along the three fronts. Helm's Deep is brilliantly done so that it can hold center stage for the climax. This is where the filmmakers had to go back and do some non-book elements to get everything ready for the fight: setting Aragorn up to come back and announce the arrival of the orcs, the scenes of the women and children in the caves, Saruman's call to war at Isengard, the elves. One of the amazing things about LOTR is that the most stunning sequences and fabulous action are not the point. While you are watching one of the finest battle sequences in action/adventure movie history, you are wondering, "Will Frodo be able to get free and complete the quest?" Meanwhile of course, Frodo is having his darkest moment atop the wall at Osgiliath.

Only then can you have the epic line of Sam's have any sort of emotional impact. And I think because you have sat there through three hours of action the line has an almost transcendant quality to it. "It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the ending be good when so much bad had happened? How could the world go back to the way it was? But in the end, it's just a passing thing. Even the darkness must pass. And a new day will come and it'll shine out all the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think I understand, Mr. Frodo. Folk in those stories had all kinds of chances of turning back, only they didn't. Because they were holding onto something." (Frodo) "What are we holding onto, Sam?" "That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it's worth fighting for."

Regardless of how you think about life, I think you have to be moved by that line.

You realize that they've summed it up pretty much in that line. Even with a good movie, at three hours, you are asking what's it all about. You want to know why. And Sam gives it to you right there. And the filmmakers have tied the audience in completely with the characters. At that point, you have to go see the final chapter.

After that speech, Gollum has a look onto this amazing goodness and he's stunned. You see in his look that he is regretting a past spent on pursuing the ring, saddened by his life dominated by evil. And Faramir sort-of takes a glance that says, "Wow, I completely failed to recognize this one right before me. I thought he was small. He's actually the biggest of us all." And then he can finally free himself from his madness: "I think at last we understand one another, Frodo Baggins."

When you then see the waters flowing through Isengard and orcs fleeing for the woods, the overall impact is tremendously satisfying.

But wait. This is a big story, and climax resolution is just preparation for a bigger obstacle to face. First, Gandalf rides up with the victorious warrors, looking out at the dark storm brewing over Mordor. He says, "The battle for Helm's Deep is over. The battle for Middle Earth is about to begin", then points the way to the true difference-makers, the hobbits.

We again see Frodo and Sam, now gleefully bounding through the woods. And they have recaptured the freedom and heights of the first film; they are hobbits again, not fearing darkness, not feeling any threat from the ring. Then, very excellently, the camera slides over to Gollum, who is literally being dragged down to the ground and forced to surrender to the evil plans of his Stinker. And then there is that one look to the side and Gollum saying, "We could let her do it. Yes, she could do it. Yes, Precious, she could", plotting the death of the hobbits. And then he pops out of the woods and leads them on. The camera then rises gloriously up above the forest and the film closes to a full shot of Mordor with volcano blazing and Nazgul swooping around.

It's truly a worthwhile investment with this type of reward. The Two Towers moved significantly away from the book but put back together a very compelling story that mirrors its qualities extremely well. At the points of straying from the book, they generally closed out with panache. That said, they did set themselves up for a few unsatisfying conclusions based on those choices. The two major ones in my mind were Shelob and the break between Sam and Frodo.

In the book, when Frodo and Sam get broken off from the fellowship and have to go on lost and then with an unreliable guide, their bond of friendship begins to grow tremendously. It becomes the bright shining force that stands against the treachery of Gollum and the sneaking, spying power of Mordor. And with Frodo, what the book shows is his character assuming an all-new strength. He starts to become masterful in many ways, becomes a leader, someone who gloriously stands above Gollum. The filmmakers' choice to have Frodo fall apart in The Two Towers sets up for a rift between Sam and Frodo that has some unintended consequences. This is unfortunate, because you miss out on that incredible bond until after the escape from the orc tower in the middle part of Return of the King, after Frodo has seen his wrong. Also, you can only then take Frodo into a place of utter weakness in the next film, and this is where he needs to have a reserve of character to accomplish the vision of the author about this character.

The other one is up for debate. Shelob. The filmmakers talked about the scene with her being a climax. She obviously couldn't be in among all of the other climaxes at the end of film two, so she was placed into three. With how they had to then do the scene with her in the third (with Sam going down the stairs, away from the battle since he has been sent packing by Frodo), you miss out on an important part of the book which is the "choices of Master Samwise." LOTR is about Sam. The whole quest and fight for Middle Earth is to preserve a world where Sam can be. He is the one who will carry on the torch. How can he fully enter the fourth age (LOTR is the close of the 3rd age) if he has not had to take on, albeit briefly, the burden of the ring? This is what happens in the book. Frodo is taken, Sam has to take on the ring.

So, where I think the first movie is flawless, I think the second movie is tremendous but has some unwanted offspring that are going to cause some frustration in the third film. I'm trying to think of what to say about the third film. Has to be the definitive word, doesn't it? It will be good though, because I think the filmmakers got it, and I look forward to digging into it and sharing some thoughts in the future.

For now, Fare Well!