Frodo Baggins, an unassuming hobbit from the Shire (a small Middle-Earth country bearing a remarkable resemblance to England), has been given a daunting task: He is to travel to the Land of Mordor, the seat of wickedness, to destroy an all-powerful ring of power by throwing it into the volcanic crucible where it was made. If he doesn’t succeed, Sauron (the Dark Lord who made the ring ages ago but lost it) will triumph, and the world will succumb to evil. Accompanied only by Sam Gamgee, his faithful servant and friend, Frodo is more than willing to fulfill his quest. However, the ring has a mind of its own. It wants to get back to its maker and will ultimately corrupt anyone who has it. The farther Frodo goes on the journey, the more he is tempted to use the ring and to fall under its power. Meanwhile, the forces of good (represented by Gandalf, a good wizard; Aragorn, a noble man; Legolas, an elf; Gimli, a dwarf; and Merry and Pippin, two other hobbits) battle the forces of evil (represented by Saruman, an evil wizard; orcs (goblins); and the Dark Lord himself.
This is the basic story line of J.R.R. Tolkien’s monumental trilogy The Lord of the Rings, which has been called the most popular book of the twentieth century. A year ago the first film installment, The Fellowship of the Ring, made its debut to much critical acclaim, and now The Two Towers, installment number 2, has been released. The middle item in a trilogy is often the least powerful, but to my mind The Two Towers is even better than The Fellowship of the Ring. It has excellent acting, gorgeous scenery, a reverence for the power of language, and a sweep that holds the viewer’s attention for the full three hours. That’s not all, though.
Tolkien, a Roman Catholic who was instrumental in C.S. Lewis’s journey to faith, did not set out to write an explicitly Christian novel. Nonetheless, in their book Finding God in the Lord of the Rings, Kurt Bruner and Jim Ware show how the book is unmistakably Christian in its underlying worldview. Frodo and Sam are willing to make a tremendous sacrifice without any hope of reward or even continued life. Good is to be upheld at all costs. Evil is not to be tolerated or compromised with. In one of the film’s most touching moments, Sam says to Frodo, now depressed and under the power of the ring, “There is good in the world, Mr. Frodo, and it is worth fighting for.” Amen.
So why should anyone who hasn’t read the book or doesn’t care for fantasy go and see this movie? Why is LOTR so popular with Christians and non-Christians alike? I believe the reason is that we all, either consciously or unconsciously, yearn for the God-shaped vacuum within us to be filled. As scripture tells us, God has written His law on our hearts, and we long for a moral universe in which good triumphs and evil is vanquished. That’s what we find in The Lord of the Rings.
There’s one other point, too. Which is better, to read the book first and then see the picture, or vice versa? When books are made into movies, the movie more often than not is inferior, but not this time. Here’s a case where you can see the film and then enjoy the book even more.
Highly recommended.
Film Rating: PG-13
My Rating: 3 1/2 stars
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