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The General story: Set in the fictional world of Middle-Earth, populated by men, dwarves, wizards and Hobbits, “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” tells the story of the one, true ring, forged by the evil Sauron, who would be resurrected to reclaim it and rule all the lands. But the ring was lost after battle three thousand years later and ended up in the hands of an inquisitive hobbit, called Bilbo. Having carried it for so long, he entrusts ownership of the ring over to his nephew Frodo, a young, adventurous hobbit who’s never left his home of the Shire. Once it changes hands, Sauron is awakened, and sends his forces out to retrieve the ring and kill its carrier. The one peaceful Middle Earth will be plunged deep into battle, where all factions of it’s inhabitants from every corner of the map, will converge for the war to end all wars.
What influenced the
movie? Based on the first novel in the trilogy written by J.R.R. Tolkien, the
Fellowship of the Ring had been a film about ten years in the making. The books
were first released in the year 1954, after Tolkien
spent close to fifteen years writing them. He imagined the world of Middle Earth
in such deep, intrinsic and personal detail, his work was the inspiration for thousands
of writers and filmmakers since. In fact, George Lucas basically took the foundations
of the Lord of the Rings trilogy when he wrote and directed Star Wars. But instead
of him taking the creative reigns on this property, the film rights were picked
up by a relatively unknown but on-the rise director from New Zealand, called
Peter Jackson. Something of a “Round up your mates and grab a camera”
filmmaker, Jackson had directed some low budget horror films, but showed the
world his true talents with the brilliant “Heavenly Creatures”. Not only did he
direct the trilogy, but he gave it the praise, pride, passion, heart,
creativity and vision no one else was willing to commit to.
How the movie
influenced the 00's: Every so often, a film series comes along that changes
movies, changes the people who made them, and changes the world. The Lord of
the Rings had that impact. Being the first trilogy of movies to film all entries
consecutively over a period of eighteen months, each film in the trilogy was
released yearly between December 2001 and December 2003. Joining Harry Potter
in 2001 as one of the films that relaunched the fantasy/adventure story,
breaking all the rules and conceptions of conventional cinema, and bringing
multiple generations together into a theatre to witness movie history in the
making. Lord of the Rings showed the world – movie goers and movie makers alike
– how to really make a movie, and
every book based on a fantasy world with a young, naive character at it’s
centre forced into adventure, was bought out and rushed into production. But none
have ever, or will ever, come close
to the sheer size, inspiration and magnitude of The Lord of the Rings.
What makes it stand
out as a film of the 00's? Sharing a common thread with many of the most popular
films of the 2000’s, The Lord of the Rings was not set in present time, or even
in the real world. It’s timing was perfect, given about three months earlier
the world had witnessed 9/11, and as the reality we lived in grew darker, we retreated
to the comforting darkness of the movie theatre to escape that reality. Quite the
contradiction, but the sequential release of the three films in the trilogy
each year, gave us all something to look forward to each December. Being released
on Boxing Day around the world, we all crawled out of bed after a huge
Christmas lunch the day before and headed to the movies; queuing up for an
hour to buy tickets to see the greatest show on earth. And I can honestly
admit, I was so impressed and galvanised by the first film in the trilogy, I wondered
how it could be topped. Boy, was I in for a surprise, as The Two Towers took things to the next level, then The Return of the King
broke all sorts of records and stands firmly as one of the greatest films ever
made. J.R.R. Tolkien would be proud.
Impact of the movie
still felt today: Watching the Lord of the Rings today, still comes across
as a fresh, and riveting experience. The films were so deep and densely layered
with character development, theme and story, that you can re-watch any of them,
and focus on just one of those elements, noticing something new each time. Given
the amount of characters in the story and the length of the films, this
warrants a large time commitment to really delve deep into the world of Middle
Earth. But many people did just that, joining loyal fan groups and attending
parties dressed as their favourite characters, and even showing up to watch the
over-drawn and bloated “The Hobbit” trilogy. It failed in comparison to it’s
predecessor (which was actually based after The Hobbit), but the true fans of
the series, just wanted to return to Middle Earth, as it’s a world we can lose
ourselves in, play out our fantasies and escape into dreams.
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