For movie buffs, this is the good news of the new school year: Peter Jackson’s trilogy, adapted from the Lord of the Ringsthe cult work of JRR Tolkien, is once again visible on the big screen on September 4th. And in an extended version, if you please. That is, according to our calculations, as the technocrats say, a total duration of 11 hours and 41 minutes of intense happiness.
As is fitting, the three films will be screened one after the other in a single session. It is therefore advisable to bring a Thermos™ of coffee, croissants and other small pick-me-ups.
In the last century, such events were commonplace; for the trilogy of Star Warsfor example, before it was disfigured by “prequels”, “sequels” and other television series that were not always well inspired, to say the least. The same fate befell the world of Middle-earth, revisited in a wokeNeedless to say, fans of the book didn’t follow. Elves in dreadlocks? How about King Aragorn in drag?
Tolkien, an Englishman not quite like the others
Delving back into the founding texts is therefore akin today to an undertaking of public and, above all, mental health. Because these three books are not the work of just anyone and do not tell just anything. The author, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien by his real name, was born English; it is necessary, they say. But, unlike many of his peers, he is Catholic and not Anglican. Certainly, he cherishes his countryside, but has little taste for the imperialism of Great Britain which has for him that of the industrial revolution: In short, he is more the man of the earth than of the iron.
The Hobbits, inspired by the anonymous heroes of 14-18
The Great War confirms his convictions. This storm of steel that fell on old Europe, this youth cut down in the trenches? We find them in the three books in question, when he tries to transcribe the unfailing courage of ordinary men, these little people who are often good people. So they will be his dear Hobbits.
Apart from these heartbreaking memories, from a time of fire and blood, he will make Lord of the Rings a literary transcription of ancient myths, pre-Christian legends, those found in natural religions. That is, the clash of the titans, of demons against the angels, before the reign of man. Under his pen, the orcs are nothing other than fallen angels. Saruman, the greatest of magicians? He turned his back on the forces of good in order to join those of evil. Lucifer is not far away. In the end, the angelic elves go to join the Grey Havens, Paradise, like others; according to ancient tradition, they withdrew to the heavens of Olympus or Wahala. As for the evil forces of Sauron, they are rejected into hell.
A film superior to the book?
The Return of the Kingthe last volume of the triptych, sees the arrival of the reign of Aragorn, the man who does not want to be king, but who ends up becoming one; by his inner strength and his sense of duty, certainly, but above all because four Hobbits show him the way and push him to finally embrace his destiny. At the end, it is a scene as poignant as it is overwhelming. The king is preparing to receive his crown. The crowd is going to kneel, as are his four little companions. But Aragorn says: “No, my friends, not you.” And it is he who kneels down, followed by the cheering crowd. For the first time in this epic tale, the four half-men are taller than the humans. Which shows that loftiness sometimes laughs at the height.
This is Tolkien’s work, masterful on paper and magnified by Peter Jackson who, ironically, physically has everything of a Hobbit: roundness, trollish appetite and small size to support it. It is rare that the films live up to the adapted books. It is even rarer that they surpass them, something that Tolkien’s heirs, at first skeptical, have ended up admitting.
So, just for that, why not try a sleepless night, just to chase away the dark thoughts?
