Sunday 6 December 2009

The Two Towers and A History of Violence

12.00-10.30 23 March 2008 I like the idea of prologues and epilogues combined as I am already looking back on yesterday in which I tried to absorb myself in the created mythology of thousands of years ago, to my years of childhood and then was required to deal with the realities of the present time. The two extra DVD’s with the Two Towers special edition continue to add knowledge to crafts of the film making and I am struck by the excellence, the skill, the patience and dedication of those involved and the way in which the personality of Peter was able to inspire everyone to stretch themselves to their individual and the collective limits and beyond. It is evident that the DVD’s are have been created with the same attention to detail and comprehensiveness, so that while they do not repeat specific details or aspects covered in the first specials and no doubt this will also be the position with the third, the format is similar so that anyone acquiring only this special will feel they have been through the journey of the film and the journey of the film making, and those who have experienced both will feel more of being part of this team which was an adventure and self revelation and was a different experience from what they done before whether it was the 200 films of Peter Cushing or the first major film of some of the Hobbits, or some of the creative artists and crews it will have been their first film making experience, and rather like the sixteen year old who scores a hat trick in their first match whether for park team or country it is then difficult to repeat game after game but this is the nature of being. The aspect of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy which I have not covered is the range of cultures and their armies which are translated in the film by different looks down to heights, facial features, body armour and swords. Thirty stunt doubles, one of whom was a woman, were brought together and trained into a team who then worked with the individual actors, some of whom attempted to live their roles on and off screen until the job was accomplished such as Viggo (Aragorn) who went everywhere with his Heroes sword, the full weight main sword rather than the lighter or the dummies, or the actor playing Wormtongue who maintained a perfect English accent until his final shot when he became Brad the American It must be difficult to live with someone like that. I decided I had to learn before writing and it was soon time for an early salad for lunch which included more of the pre roasted ham joint with a banana and then around 2.30 a cup of coffee. It was the first of two stretched meals although looking now back I eat less than for many months which was very good, and to be repeated.

12.01 Usually Parliament has a two week recess over Easter, but because the religious and secular holiday has come at the earliest possible date this year, there has been no recess with today the focus of Prime Minister’s Question Time was the economy within a European, North Atlantic and world context, and the visit of the new French President. Given that PMQ’s remains a political joust between leaders of armies indistinguishable from each other, I gave today’s match a draw. The Prime Minister having been Chancellor for a decade is in his most comfortable territory, in command of all the positive aspects of economic management of his reign and able to draw attention to all the individual failures and accumulative disaster of the end of the last Tory era. However he was matched by the official Leader of the Opposition who was able to highlight genuine shortcomings in the present situation, some of which have been due to the approach of the PM since he took office. The arrival of the French President may provide the opportunity to rebuild what has been a series of severe chinks in the Entente Cordial since De Gaulle said Non in gratitude for our liberation of his country and providing him a war time shelter after some of his countrymen embraced Nazi rule, and the more recent torpedoing of the attempt by Tony to achieve a North Atlantic and UN involvement in Iraq from the outset. When one of vision has to stand alone everyone falls, unless the falling of the one is part of the vision.

13.00 I have reached 91 games of level one chess and propose to move slowly forward. I watch the first extras DVD of The Two Towers. I decide on how I am going to research and write up the battles between the kingdoms and forces of Middle Earth and this will involved reorganising the existing research material. However even to do this I need to a first understanding the beginnings and something of the length of time of the three ages which cover thousands of years during which some beings continue to exist, Sauron the Ring Creator who is said top have stood at the beginning of known beingness, and who was not fundamentally evil at that time. His struggles to become the ruler of Middle earth,, replacing the original Dark Lord, who he served, are chronicled in the Silmarillion and where the creation of the Ring does not take place until the Second Age when he changed his appearance to become Elf like and goes to the Elven smiths of Eregion where he persuades them to forge the great rings of power and having learnt their secrets he decides on the creation of the One Ring from the volcanic heart of Mount Doom which will enslave the wearers of the sixteen Rings of Power to his Will, However he was not originally aware of all the rings that were made by the Elf smiths with three which finding their way to the immortal to the immortals Gil-galad, Galadriel and Cirdan (although they can be killed with Sauron killing Gil-galad during the battle outside the tower of Mordor during the last great alliance of Elves and Men. It is Galadriel who with her co ruler husband of Lothlorien (created inside a giant treelike structure for the film), who uses her powers to show Frodo one perspective of his future. She knows something of the power of the One Ring and is momentarily tempted take it from Frodo. Thus while Sauron is one the earliest beings in the world of Middle Earth, the fairy Elves have become one of the most important peoples with their sense of beauty, learning, mystical powers and immortality. They can also fight being most skilled with the use of the Bow and arrow. The son of Tolkien has thoroughly researched his father’s work producing a twelve volume history of Middle Earth which commences with the Book of Lost tales. The mythical Elves have been thought of in a variety of forms from the tiny to the human size and shape and in the Lord of the Rings there are two centres, Rivendell where there is much learning and cultured living under its master Elrond (a role which Davie Bowie was interested in playing but said to have been rejected by Jackson as problematic) and where Frodo recoups after his near death experience and Bilbo goes into retirement to write his autobiography of adventures. Arwen (Liv Tyler) who rescues and takes Frodo to Rivendell is the daughter of Elrond and the lover of Aragorn. It is here that the Council is called and Frodo makes the decision to take the Ring to Mount Doom for its destruction with the help of the Fellowship and from where they make their way to Lothorien. In the Silmarillion, the original Dark Lord Melkor captures some wandering elf creatures, mutilates them into beings who become the Orcs, but later Tolkien decided on a different origin for these horrific baddies. The elves commenced to control the realms of Mirkwood, Eregion and Mirkwood but when Sauron replaced his former master as the Dark Lord and holds the Ring of power he seeks to enlist the Numenoreans to help defeat them. Numeneor is a kind of Atlantis concept of an Island race rising from the sea and which for a time among the Men (human kinds) of Middle Earth were powerful and who took against the Elves jealous of their immortality. However there was also a time when they joined the Elves against Sauron, taking him prisoner. It was later in the history of Middle Earth they founded Condor.

17.00 I have listened to the CD of the music of the film Hilary and Jackie and the Mass for Peace, the Armand Man. Karl Jenkins while I work. They are both important music works and I will return to them on another listening, I have reached game 95 level chess and drank two thirds of a glass of orange juice with a vitamin tablet. The supplies have not been delivered although I expected as much given the volume which would have built up over the holiday with an offer of 50% off their own brands. The life of the Elf is interesting in that they marry early and for love and are monogamous. They bear a few children and marital discord is almost unknown and equality is an inherent characteristic that has never been an issue. Living for ever can become tiring even with a love of the arts, of food and each other, so when this happens they go off to the undying lands where they can die from weariness, or grief, unless they die prematurely in battle. When this happens they go to a kind of limbo before becoming spirits unseen by the human eye. I think I would like to be an Elf especially as they are also tall and thin

18.00-22.00 The supplies arrive, six boxes and I am the midst of unpacking when I receive a telephone call which lasts long and affects the rest of my evening. I then continue with the unpacking and sorting and then it is time for England away to France at football. The game does not go well and the goal keeper gives a penalty. Another disappointing English Performance England in France losing 1.0 , although there is a sense of organisation and team and not individualists. The reality is that some of those involved are not just good enough. David Beckham plays his 100th game and there with all his family and friends. The evening meal was stretched with a glass of red and some salted peanuts, and then a couple of vegetarian hamburgers on their own, some grapes and a coffee. The thing is that because I was involved in everything and feeling under pressure I was not aware of the need for food. If I can add exercise to this then I have a recipe for reduction.

22.15 I decide to watch A History of Violence which I have seen before in theatre, in 2005 when it was released. I do so to remind myself of the performance of Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) whose performance was excellent except that I had not connected with his name. I experience the role and not the actor which is always the mark of greatness in the making. I once bored everyone by repeating as a mantra "what you say and do and who you do it with or say it to, lives with you and them for ever." Thus it is for A history of Violence, just when you have made or yourself the kind of life you always wanted, you have no choice but to act in a certain way which will you know will have consequences that will make everything different and prevent you returning to where you have reached because of what was done before. Because of his background, the character, played by Viggo, has created a new, simple, normal, American, family life, running a small town diner contently for close on two decades, when two most wanted interstate killers call late at night, threatening staff and customers and when appeasement fails, he has no alternative to apply previous skills, killing the two attackers, with the consequential local acclaim and wider notoriety. Then figures from his past come alooking and he is left with no alternative to fight for his life, and that leads to his son having no alternative but to kill one to save his father. This leads to having no alternative but to accept the invitation to go to the fortress home of his brother and again to kill or be killed. A total body count of eight or nine. But each killing is not of his own immediate making and this is not a film about killings but about living with our past and he extent to which it is possible to build a family life with a partner, their relations, and then with children who may have no concept or be able to call on any experience which can relate that hidden or simply part of another life. I think all those who have been to a war on another land and return home know this feeling. In the History of Violence the young child a daughter of primary school age is the first to accept him back, then his son and then perhaps in time, his wife, although they both know what they had together cannot be recaptured. It cannot be said to have lost because it existed once, was real and meaningful. The film end in reality. If we do not get on with living as we become then we do not live.

00.00 I return to digesting and integrating into my awareness more of the people and the battles which are fought. Following on from the involvement of Numenor, three of their Lords become joined the six other Kings of Men were first given the rings of power before being controlled by the One Ring of Sauron and turning the Nazgul, the Winged Nazgul the Ringwraiths, the Ring-Wraiths, the Black Riders, and the Dark Riders or just the Nine, as they can be called, and like Sauron they cease to have a physical form other than defined by their black clothing, and the red reflection in their eyes which in rage seems hellish fire. The Nine wield swords, but their leader is shown with a knife, a long sword and a mace. Their presence causes terror and their breadth is poisonous and victims were thrown into despair, nightmares, unconsciousness and death. It is not always immediately appreciated that there are nine heroes in the Fellowship to mirror the Nine principal servants of Sauron.

01.00 I have been watching the second DVD and marvelling at the dedication of the stunt men and one stunt woman and also of Gollum, who was filmed going through the coldest of waters on the coldest of days. Everyone filmed for weeks over months throughout the night in created or natural rain in a quarry with few level surfaces where the fortress of Helmsdeep was created at different levels or safety reasons

01.30 The other first creatures of evil we experience in the first film are the Orcs sometimes written as Orks and who are said to have been first referenced in Bewulf The early approach of Tolkien was to use the term goblins but by the time of the Twin Towers those who serve Sauruman are named the Uruk-hai with a greater stature, slant eyes, thick legs and hands armed with short bladed swords and not the curved scimitars as used by other Orks and who were also able to use bows similar to those of Men. They are generally smaller than Men, ugly and filthy, with monkey, ape like qualities and the blood is black and sour. The Uruk-hai used by Sauruman are different from those of Sauron who we first see at the Black Gate in the Twin Towers. The Orks like to use poisoned bladed swords and poisoned ended arrows., They are always hungry and will eat all kinds of flesh as Merry and Pippin are threatened, who as Hobbits are smaller than Orcs and in the Twin Towers are carried on their backs as they head apace back to Sauruman, chased by Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas.

02.00 To bed feeling better having got back onto the groove again and completed 101 games of chess without a draw once more, the 550th of the 560 with ten drawn accomplished during March. This was the intention, but it was close to three for one reason and another.

07.00ish I did check the time but forget but it was a good sleep of around four hours after some difficulty in settling when I went to bed over tired and actively brain working

09.45 I struggle up bleary eyes, decided to do a text message which takes ten times as long as usual, to write and then make the effort to make coffee, such is my condition. My network has confirmed that I am not eligible for the special welcome pack which includes £5 worth of internet exploring and £1 of photo messaging as I have transferred existing membership. This means I can get to know the phone at a slower pace which is OK as long as I do get to know and do as is normal learn sufficient to do what I want and then get on with everything else, learning new aspects only when I need to. This is a sensible approach for me because I forget if I do not use something or do something on a constant basis and have to relearn and re-educate from the beginning when need arises.

11.30. I will continue the background work tomorrow leaving experiencing the Return of the King when I am fully prepared. I nearly forgot to mention that in the special edition Boromir appears, (Sean Bean) leading the fight of the Men of Condor when all appears lost and the city resembles that of some German cities at the close of World War 2, before he is sent of Rivendell. Sean Bean was given the same look of Aragorn in the films, but he is one of those actors where the essence of Sean Bean is always there. Sean grew up on a Council estate in Sheffield and his father became a comparatively wealthy man after setting up a steel plating business with a colleague, employing 50 men and owning a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow, but not moving from the estate because he wanted to remain close to family and friends. His early life also reflects this background, leaving a comprehensive school with just two O levels in English and Art, doing a welding course and then turning to an Arts course, to drama, and getting a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. I became an admirer of Sean through his two hour films as Sharpe the man of the Ranks who becomes an Officer at the time of Peninsular Napoleonic wars. These are very good films in their own right but have the added advantage of being partly set in Spain thus providing some of the background to the family life of Calne where later in the century was to join the Army, and I was researching what it would have been like for him at that time. He had appeared in several big films before the Lord of the Rings starting with Caravaggio, Patriot Games, Lady Chatterley, Golden Eye, Anna Karenina, and Ronin. It would appear to be a Man’s Man." He has been married four times, divorced three, with three daughters, but describes himself off screen as quiet relaxing with a book, listening to music, gardening, welding and sketching. He is also a fanatical supporter of Sheffield United Football Club ( which I have visited for a Bruce Springsteen concert, but also for football although because Sheffield Weds has a larger ground it was used for FA Cup semi final games for many years, along with Man U and Aston Villa. He has a tattoo 100% Blades on his left shoulder

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