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Lord of the Rings: The
Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
 | Information at Internet
Movie Database |
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Cinema in Focus,
a social and spiritual commentary by Hal Conklin and Denny Wayman. |
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Looking Closer, review by Jeffrey Overstreet, "searching for truth, beauty
and meaning in the movies." |
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Movie Parables
review. |
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Hollywood Jesus
visual review. |
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"Preaching Peace in
Hollywood," (Terminator 3, LOTR 3, and Matrix 3), Jeff Krantz and Michael
Hardin, preachingpeace.org. |
| Themes
 | Baptism
 | There is a scene when Galadriel, the elf-queen, draws
water from her fountain in a silver pitcher and pours it into a basin,
encouraging Frodo and Sam Gamgee to look into it. She says something like,
"The water will show you what has been, what is, and some of what might
be." I used this moment during a baptism recently for a baby in our
congregation who has already had several major heart surgeries and faces
several more. We know what has been and what is- those are the claims that
we make at baptism. But, we only see through the eyes of hope what will be
for him, and there is much uncertainty in that vision. I found that
analogy to be very, very apt and powerful for this little boy's baptism.
(D. Mark Davis, Clive,
IA USA) |
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| Call
| Frodo the hobbit receives a "call" to destroy the evil
"one ring" before its power is able to corrupt and destroy all of Middle
Earth. This call involves a long and extremely dangerous journey, and the
likelihood that Frodo will not return alive. In one scene, Frodo expresses
his fear and his wish that the ring had never come to him. Gandalf the
wizard tells Frodo, "We cannot choose the time we live in. We can only
choose what we do with the time we are given." (Pat
Raube-Wilson, Auburn/Union Theological Seminary) |
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| Faith, Hope, Call,
Confronting Evil, Discernment, Courage
| The Lord of the Rings is a movie which in following the
book well enough, addresses many issues
pertaining to emotions, faith, hope, pity, call,
confronting evil, discernment, and many many more themes. This movie is
rich to bursting with possibilities, as it follows the book which
was written around a mythical and religious
basis. (Michael K. Doran) |
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| Judgment
| I found Gandalf’s reply to Samwise Gamgee (I think, or
is it Frodo?) concerning the vile Golum very applicable to our own
judgmentalism within Christianity of other believers. Golum had irritated
Samwise to a murderous level and Sam was venting to Gandalf. Gandalf
explained that it wouldn’t be right to kill Golum for he had his own
purpose in the great scheme of things. Gandalf said, “Even the wise cannot
see the end of all things.” As it turns out Golum is the one who
ultimately destroys the Ring. So our Lord states
in the parables of the Tares and the Fish. For all our knowledge we cannot
see the end of all things and so final judgment is reserved for the One
who can. (Steven D. Hopping,
Southwest Central Church of Christ,
Houston, TX) |
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Index of Movie Titles
Index of Movie Themes
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