Der Herr der Ringe - Die Gefährten [2 DVDs]

Ursprünglich war ich kein Fantasy-Fan, sondern hatte mich nur auf SF konzentriert. Als ich jedoch Lord of the Rings - The fellowship of the Ring, das erste Mal gesehen hatte, änderte sich das schlagartig! Ich war, bin und werde immer begeistert und verzaubert sein, von der großartigen Arbeit, die Peter Jackson hier vollbracht hat und dessen Genialität, sich durch jede Minute, aller drei Teile zieht. Leider hatte ich noch nicht Zeit, alle von Tolkins Bücher zu lesen aber die liegen schon auf meinen Nachtkästchen ;-). Wer des englischen mächtig ist sollte sich unbedingt beide Versionen ansehen. Nun die Geschichte im erstem Akt, startet etwas ruhig in dem idyllischem Dorf der Hobbits, diese Landschaft ist so wie jede andere des Films, eine wahre Augenweide. Es geht ruhig und unbeschwert zu, das ändert sich jedoch schlagartig für Frodo als er von seinem Freund Zauberer Gandalf, mit einer schwierigen Aufgabe betraut wird, die ihm eine schwere Bürde auferlegt und die über das Schicksal von Mittelerde entscheiden wird überstürzt, muss er sein Heim von Bösen Mächten gehetzt verlassen und sich mit seinen Freunden auf eine gefährliche Odyssee begeben und den Ring das Objekt der Bedrohung nach Mordor zu bringen und zu vernichten. Die Gemeinschaft die gebildet wird, wird vielen Gefahren trotzen, viele Abenteuer überstehen und auch Opfer zu beklagen haben. Hier beginnt eine wunderbare Geschichte, mit phantastischen Fabelwesen, dargestellt in wunderbaren Landschaften und mit famoser Musik untermalen. Außerdem glänzt diese Trilogie durch durchdachten Detailreichtum, so wie ich ihn noch nie zuvor, in einem Fantasyfilm erkennen konnte. Ich kann Herr der Ringe nur jedem der phantastische Geschichten mag wärmstes weiter empfehlen! Ich denke ihr werdet ihn lieben.

So what can you say about Lord of The Rings that hasn't already been said? In my view in 2001 there were two great and I mean GREAT movies made, Lord of the Rings and Moulin Rouge. BUT did Oscar recognise either movie? Of course not because Oscar prefers mediocrity, Oscar prefers cynically made I've got a disability and I'm going to overcome it movies. The problem with Lord of the Rings is that nobody had a disability. None of the major characters was blind, autistic, schizophrenic or could paint with their left foot, and everybody knows to win any of the major Oscars you need a major disability, you need to follow a formula and you need to be popular and previously unfairly overlooked by the Academy for the best work of your life. Then eventually it will become your turn if it happens to be politically correct that year and if the movie studio spends millions of dollars on a publicity campaign. The fact that Lord of the Rings was perhaps the best movie of that year and outstanding Directorial achievement was apparently inconsequential to the Academy but then why should that surprise anybody?

The Lord of the Rings starts by explaining the history of the rings, how they were forged, how the forces of evil were defeated and how through the greed of man the one ring that could control all survived and eventually ended up in the possession Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm), one of the diminutive peace-loving hobbits who live in the Shire. On the occasion of his 110th birthday Bilbo, overcome with wanderlust, sets off on a journey across middle earth and at the behest of the good wizard Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellen), he entrusts the ring to his young nephew, Frodo (Elijah Wood). However, it is not long before the forces of evil are in hot pursuit of the ring, led by another wizard, Saruman (Christopher Lee), under the influence of the abominable Sauron, the evil force that originally created and controlled the ring and that previously had plunged middle earth into darkness. This leads to Frodo having to flee the shire to the elf city of Rivendell, with three of his fellow (and rather mischievous) hobbits for company, hotly pursued by Sauron's evil cloaked nightriders. On eventually, and not so safely, arriving at Rivendell and after much debate it is decided that the ring must be destroyed, in the only place possible, in the fires of Mount Doom (where it was originally forged) and the quest to destroy the ring sets out in earnest, with a multi-nationed (although apparently not multi-racial) fellowship of wizards, Hobbits, elves, humans and dwarves. Once again however, danger is not far behind in the shape of the hideous and unbelievably ferocious Orcs and in the hearts of the fellowship themselves.

Parents beware!!! The Lord of the Rings is punctuated by action scenes that lift the tempo of the movie and get the audiences adrenalin flowing but they do feature some a lot of violence - torture, mutilation, decapitation, death and I have to say that I was very surprised at the rating given to it in the UK, which allowed very young children to see it. For this is not a children's movie and despite it's mythic, swords and sorcery basis, it is certainly not Harry Potter.

At the heart of Tolkien's story is that evil and hatred lurks in the heart of every person and that the ring draws these feelings to the surface and apparently, much of Tolkien's inspiration behind the moral tone of Lord of The Rings was the rise of the Nazi's prior to and during the Second World War. Hence, unlike most great mythological quests where the object is to attain some great treasure or object that will provide its bearer with some great power or wealth, at the centre of the Lord of the Rings is the quest to destroy an object of great power in the fires of Doom in order to vanquish evil and bring peace for all eternity).

Although a posterior-numbing (nearly) three hours long, at the end of The Fellowship of The Ring I was left frustrated and desperate for more. I wanted to stay seated and for the movie theatre to immediately start showing the second part of the trilogy, The Two Towers. I didn't want to have to wait a year for the sequel or eight months for the DVD, such was my enjoyment of this movie. For Peter Jackson has achieved what supposedly could not be achieved in providing us with a fast-moving and totally enthralling tale, set against the beautiful backdrop of the New Zealand landscape; snow-capped mountains, beautiful lakes, rivers and valleys, idyllic farmland, great expanses of woodland and beautiful and exotic flora. The New Zealand tourist board will forever be in his debt. The sets and special effects are all excellent, as is the cast magnificently led by Sir Ian McKellen as the great wizard Gandalf, who does a magnificent job steering well clear of the ham. He is brilliantly supported by the likes of Ian Holm, Elijah Wood, Sean Bean, Christopher Lee, Cate Blanchett, Liv Tyler, Orlando Bloom, Sean Astin and in particular (in what might well be a breakthrough performance) Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn (aka Strider). Whilst Frances Walsh's screenplay must also be given much credit.

Like many millions of other people across the planet I eagerly await the second part of the trilogy, The Two Towers. As for The Fellowship of The Ring it fully deserves five stars, if not six (five stars are all too often too easily dispensed by Amazon reviewers). Movie entertainment doesn't get any better than this and if you disagree, then you are entitled to your opinion. It is just that on this occasion your opinion happens to be wrong!!!
: )