J.R.R Tolkien has played an enormous role in the lives of millions. The most influential fantasy writer of all time shaped my formative years especially. But like many I was just as interested in the man as I was the work. An orphan, a WWI veteran, an Oxford Professor. His life in many ways was designed for the big screen, he had life experience that could fit into nearly any genre.
So when I saw the Trailer for Tolkien, it was an immediate priority.
I watched it alone on a Tuesday afternoon in sparcely populated cinema, something that seemed normal given the time of day I was watching and I thought it was rather good! Nicholas Hoult and Lilly Collins were well cast as the titled Tolkien and his only love Edith Bratt; The Somme scenes were up to the same quality as most WWI films; and most importantly, I was incredibly invested.
Although not many would agree with me. 51% on Rotten Tomatoes, £9Million box office and a cold rebuke from the Tolkien Estate who completely disavowed the biopic would be proof that I may have been in the minority of people satisfied with the film.
It was hard to deny the points that were made, the film was teeming with creative license of which most Tolkien fans would not approve, an example of which was the perceived downplaying of Tolkien’s religious faith; the cornerstone of his life.
It was difficult not to see the film as a rather hollow interpretation next to other biographical works on Tolkien. Humphrey Carpenter’s 1977 biography for example provided a full and detailed account of Tolkien’s life and work; full of commentary the book leaves you feeling almost like you knew Tolkien. This cannot be said of the film, of which the criticism seemed increasingly valid.
That didn’t change what I liked about it though and I wondered if Tolkien would have fared better as a completely fictional piece that the more observant viewers would notice shared similarities with the life of Professor Tolkien.
Had it instead been the story of Orphan John Williams who meets the love of his life in a boarding house only to face a stern response from his legal guardian, a seemingly doomed romance rekindled just in time for his deployment, perhaps audiences would have warmed more to it.
My second watch helped me realise what I liked so much about the film. It wasn’t the biography of Tolkien, but the incredibly effective WWI Drama.
The First World War is well represented by feature films, from Hell’s Angels to All Quiet on the Western Front. Oh What a Lovely War to Journey’s End. Most recently Sam Mendes’ 1917 cleaned up at the BAFTA’s. Rightfully so too.
But what makes Tolkien such an effective WWI film?
I’d say first is that it successfully depicts the bleak situation of the trenches, every scene at the Somme is dominated by death, violence and sickness. Tolkien’s laying in a mass grave, next to a pool of blood could be considered violent imagery, but its effective and stays with you, causing you to reflect on the horrors of past generations.
Though to me far more of an asset was the long term investment in Tolkien and his school friends, we get to know him as a child, we take him to school and meet his friends, like minded contemporaries with bright futures ahead of them. We are invited into their most important experiences together as they inhabit the Birmingham Tea Rooms discussing music and literature; their hopes and dreams. We follow them to university and find ourselves wholly part of their lives.
To me one of the most telling scenes was Tolkien sitting on a bench in a lesson with Joseph Wright. As all the young students are declaring war in what appears to be a celebration. Wright gestures at Tolkien to continue with the lesson, almost in the hope that by continuing the lesson, they will delay the inevitable.
The most palpable scene are when the four friends are reunited at a hotel, ready to be shipped of the front lines, they’re together but something isn’t right, they now know fear and behind their eyes is the sense that they may not be reunited again.
We return to the scenes of the war, but with a newfound connection to the characters. We’ve watched them as children, teenagers and men and must now experience with them the terrible realities of the war, we are faced with the death of two of our four friends and Tolkien’s union with Edith, his career and his family are all clouded by the now shared experience of war.
Towards the end of the film the realities are once again driven home to us. His meeting with Mrs Smith in the tearoom her son spent his youth is so bittersweet as she reflects on the happy days her son had, but expresses her lack of consolation at his loss and the loss faced by so many. The meeting is nostalgic in nature as we are left to think about the young men and the lives that they might have lead.
The film’s ending is a return from the WWI drama to the Tolkien Biopic the audience came to see. It is easy to see why the criticism of Tolkien as a biographic was valid. In many ways it is just a very average, debatably reliable biopic, made without the permission of those who actually knew the subject, if one wanted to know more about the creator of worlds, they would fair much better reading Humphrey Carpenter’s book.
But I do believe that if someone wants a WWI film that is unique to many of its genre counterparts then Tolkien is an absolute must!
~Alexander~
T H E N A I V E F I L M M A K E R 