Thus runs the immortal line of J.R.R Tolkien’s stanza in ’’The Fellowship of the Ring’’ (being the first part of ’’The Lord of the Rings’’). The full stanza runs thus:
All that is gold does not glitter
Not all those who wander are lost
The old that is strong does not wither
Deep roots are untouched by the frost
From the ashes a flame shall be woken
A light from the shadows shall spring
Renewed shall the blade that was broken
The crownless again shall be king.
Unfortunately the first stanza has been completely done away with in the movie, the second, however, has been retained but doesn’t appear until the third installation of the movie. This review concerns itself with only the first part.
First, A little history
Frankly, for most Indians here this movie could have been in Greek for all we know! Even I didn’t understand anything when I saw it for the first time, but just like ’’The Matrix’’ I was spellbound by the visual splendour of this movie and was compelled to watch the movie again and again until I understood. Later I also read the book.
Well the story is set in the mythical ’Middle Earth’. There are many kinds of people like Elves (immortal, wise and skilled in archery), Men (normal people like us), Wizards (immortal again but with magic powers), Dwarves (short and skilled with the axe, also great miners), Hobbits (little people with no skill; a merry folk) and Orcs (the hideous looking creatures who work for the real bad guys).
The story begins with Elven smiths forging rings of power which will help different races rule their people. Nine are given to Kings of Men, Seven to the Dwarves and three for the Elves. The bad guy is Sauron who, after learning the craft from the Elves, forges a master ring (The Lord of the Rings) which can bend all other rings to its will. The Elven rings, however, are beyond its reach.
Armed with this One Ring Sauron attacks the people of Middle Earth. ’’The Last Alliance’’ is formed between Men (Led by their King ’Elendil’) and Elves. Sauron with his all powerful ring slays Elendil and breaks his sword (Narsil). Elendil’s son, Isildur, picks up the hilt shard of Narsil and cuts off Sauron’s finger (along with the ring). Thus separated from the ring (to which his life force is bound) Sauron is diminished (but not destroyed, because the ring is not destroyed). The ring passes to Isildur and corrupts his mind, he decides to keep it. Later a band of orcs waylay him and the ring falls into a pool where it lies lost for 2500 years. It is then found by the creature Gollum, the ring extends his life and he keeps it for 500 years during which the ring completely devours his mind. The One Ring is then found by a Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, who takes the ring and has some adventures with it for 60 years (this, in fact, forms the story of ’’The Hobbit’’, a book that appeared before the ’’The Lord of the Rings’’ trilogy).
The situation now is thus: Sauron has risen once again, he has no bodily form but his spirit is very potent, he now lives as a great eye breathed in flame on top of ’’Barad Dur’’ - the enemy fortress deep inside Mordor (the enemy kingdom). In the world of Men two principal kingdoms remain viz. Gondor (bordering Mordor) and Rohan (a smaller kingdom). Gondor is without a king because the bloodline of Isildur is lost and is being taken care of by its Stewards.
The Movie Story
The One Ring has streched Bilbo’s life also (he is now 111 years old). A Wizard, Gandalf the Grey(who is Bilbo’s longtime friend), convinces Bilbo to pass on the ring to Bilbo’s nephew, Frodo Baggins.
After the ring passes to Frodo, Gandalf discovers that this is in fact the One Ring and also that the enemy has sent out the dreaded Nazgul (the nine kings with the rings, now exist only as wraiths) in search of the ring to the Shire (the Hobbits’ home).
Gandalf asks Frodo to meet him in ’The Prancing Pony’ (an inn in the town of Bree outside the Shire) while Gandalf himself goes to seek counsel from another wizard, Saruman the White (the most powerful of wizards and the head of their order).
Once in Isengard (the place where Saruman dwells) Gandalf learns that Saruman has fallen to the dark side and is taken captive by Saruman. Frodo, in the meantime, sets out from the Shire joined in his quest by three other hobbits -with his gardener (Sam) and his cousins (Merry and Pippin) to the inn. There they don’t find Gandalf but meet a ranger called Strider who takes over from there and takes them to an Elven city called Rivendell.
En route, Frodo is attacked by the Nazgul who try to get the ring from him but Frodo resists and is struck by a poisoned sword. He is healed in Rivendell where a council is held to decide what to do with the Ring (Gandalf meanwhile escapes from Isengard). It is decided that the ring be taken to Mordor to be destroyed in Mount Doom (the place where it was made, the one place where it can be destroyed).
The Fellowship of the Ring is formed to accomplish this task consisting of the four hobbits, Gandalf, Strider (who is a man), another man, Boromir (who is the son of the Steward of Gondor), an Elf named Legolas and a Dwarf named Gimli.
The Fellowship sets out from Rivendell but when passing through the mine kingdom of Moria is attacked by a monster called Balrog whom none can fight save Gandalf with all his wizardry. Gandalf and the Balrog fall into the depths of Moria and the rest of the Fellowship escapes.
Later, a band of Uruk-hai (upgraded version of orcs developed by Saruman) attacks the Fellowship and the Fellowship is broken - Boromir is dead, Merry and Pippin have been taken captive (as ordered by Saruman, who wants the ring and knows that one of the Hobbits carries it) and Frodo leaves for Mordor alone (later joined by Sam). Strider, Legolas and Gimli are left with a choice of whether to follow Frodo and Sam or to follow Merry and Pippin.
They decide that Frodo’s fate is no longer in their hands but they will not let Merry and Pippin be tormented to death. They begin to follow the band of Uruk-Hai.
The film ends here.
CONTINUED IN COMMENTS SECTION DUE TO 8000 CHARACTER LIMIT