National Geographic Beyond the Movie - The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring Rating: Release Date: 26 August, 2003 Retail Price: $19.98 OUR Price: $17.99 You SAVE: $1.99! Cast: Billy Boyd Orlando Bloom Sean Astin Christopher Lee Complete Cast (9 total)

National Geographic Beyond the Movie - The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring Reviews

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Interesting
I thought it was very interesting. I was intrigued by the ideas of Tolkien'a life as presented by National Geographics. As well as the influences that went into the "Lord of the Rings." I found it very insightful. I've studied Tolkien before maybe that is why I enjoyed this more than other reviewers.

Great Companion Piece to The Movie.
This National Geographic Beyond the Movie is a great companion piece to the movie. Though the video has a strong ecological and environmental message (it's a National Geographical piece after all), the video does much more than examine the conservationism of Tolkien. In fact, the main purpose of the video is not environmentalism, but an examination of how the fantasy world of Middle Earth that Tolkien created was rooted in the realities of our own world.

Tolkien strongly stated several times throughout his life that THE LORD OF THE RINGS was not a modernist fable or allegory about the World Wars or Industrialism vs. Agriculture or anything like that. THE LORD OF THE RINGS is simply a story; one of the greatest and most detailed fictional stories of all time perhaps, but a story nonetheless. However, THE LORD OF THE RINGS was influenced by all that had affected Tolkien in his life. This special illustrates how some of those events inspired THE LORD OF THE RINGS: how the rural agricultural area where Tolkien was raised helped inspire the Shire; how WWI influenced Tolkien's view and description of the War of the Ring; how the endangered Finnish language helped Tolkien create the Elvish language.

The tape includes interviews with lots of people including one of Tolkien's remaining living friends, Tolkien scholars, linguistic experts, anthropologists, environmentalists, actors on the set of THE LORD OF THE RINGS, and even Peter Jackson himself. There is quite a bit of archival footage (for a 60 minute tape) and there are also a few snippets from scenes of the two remaining THE LORD OF THE RINGS movies to be released.

The documentary went into a great detail discussing how various elements and events affected Tolkien's grand epic. However, there was one very important part of Tolkien's life that affected THE LORD OF THE RINGS, that the video did not even mention. The tape does not mention anything at all about Tolkien's devout Christian faith. Though Tolkien firmly stated that THE LORD OF THE RINGS was not a Christian allegory (like many of the writings of his good friend C.S. Lewis), he never denied that his faith played a role in what he wrote and how he wrote it. Tolkien's faith was the most important part of his life and to not even acknowledge the importance it played is shameful.

Overall an enjoyable special great for any THE LORD OF THE RINGS fan, Tolkien fan, and anyone interested in learning more about J.R.R. Tolkien.

More Customer Reviews (9 total)

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