Previous page | Main ALOVE site Archive  Journey into the movies – a look at the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy : back    Have you seen the films? ... Tell us what you think here In the first in a short series of articles on the Lord of the Rings trilogy, resident ALOVE film buff Phil Hoyle talks about why some movies connect with us and what that tells us about life, faith and following Jesus ... I love movies. Specifically, I love watching movies at the cinema. Sure, the ticket prices are way too high, you run the risk of sitting next to ‘movie commentator girl’ who can’t help but tell her friends how good the last film with the fit star of this one was; you may end up next to ‘ordered the extra loud popcorn with extra large slurpy drink guy’ and find you can only hear every other line of dialogue, but, that said, there’s no feeling like when the lights dim, the guys from the Orange board of film have finished taking the pee out of Patrick Swayze, and the BBFC’s Title card appears announcing the start of usually (but ever increasing!) 2 hours of entertainment. Of course, DVDs have the added geek factor of extras – interviews, featurettes, storyboards, Easter eggs, all fantastic. But nothing completely beats the cinematic experience. Anyway, so I love movies, so what? Well, on one level, it’s cool to go to the movies have a good time and forget about it. In fact, some films are probably best forgotten as soon as you’ve seen them. Date Movie, for example, should probably be surgically erased from your memory even if it didn’t voluntarily limp out about 30 seconds after the credits rolled. However, some movies cut a little deeper and it’s good when that happens to take a step back and say, “Well, what was it I connected with in that?” In this series we’re going to take a look at a trilogy of films from this viewpoint. The Lord of the Rings trilogy (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King), Directed by Peter Jackson, are fantasy films, following the journey of Frodo Baggins, a Hobbit (3 foot high, big hairy feet, smokes pipe, drinks ale), as he sets out on an adventure to overturn the rule of the increasingly powerful Dark Lord Sauron (Formerly big, armoured bad guy, now large, flaming eyeball); so far, so surreal. However, the story of Frodo and the choices he makes echoes our story and choices that we face everyday ourselves. Ok, here’s where we pause for a second. If you’ve watched the trilogy, all well and good, but if you haven’t, shame on you! Here’s what you need to do - go and get the films. Rent them, buy them, borrow them from a friend and then, of course, watch them! Savour every moment. Get some friends together, buy some popcorn, Tangfastics, minstrels or some other home entertainment snack, and sit down and watch these movies. If I were you, I’d watch the extended editions. This will mean roughly 12 hours viewing, but it’s well worth it. Over the next couple of articles, we’ll be looking at some of the ideas that I noticed when watching the movie. Who knows? Maybe you’ll see something in them too. Here are some pointers to think about as you watch: • Where does Frodo begin the story? • How does he get into the adventure in the first place? • What does he do to prepare himself for his adventures? • Who else gets involved? Hope you enjoy the movie, come back next week when we start unpacking some of the ideas … : back to top : back to culture page Youthwork - The Partnership ... ALOVE, Youthwork Magazine, Youth For Christ, Spring Harvest and Oasis are working together to equip and resource the Church for effective youth work and ministry.