February 17, 2003

Okay: Faramir
Brett C.

Well, I finally have time to talk about what I think of the portrayal of Faramir on screen in TTT.

So many people have already commented on the marked difference in the screen character to the book that I really don’t feel I need to add my voice to the chorus. What I would like to do instead is comment on what I feel might be the reasoning behind the difference on screen.

Firstly, I think part of the change comes because PJ has looked at the character in his entirety, and not just his part in The Two Towers. In essence, he ahs gone looking for what he thinks is the single strongest motivator for Faramir’s actions. For Aragorn it his love of Arwen, for Frodo it is his desire to protect his fellow Hobbits. Boromir was driven by his desire to please his father and save his people.

I think in Faramir, PJ has opted to make his motivation akin to Boromir’s in relation to their father Denethor, but has opted to go one step further by adding to the mix Faramir’s lingering knowledge that he is not his father’s favourite son; is in fact, so Faramir believes, something of a disappointment. This tension between Faramir and Denethor can be seen both in their speech with each other in the opening chapters of ROTK and in the comments of observers like Gandalf, who says of Denethor things such as his love for Boromir being the greater because they were in fact unalike, and that the blood of Numenor runs almost true in Faramir, and yet not in Denethor’s other son Boromir, “whom he loved best.”

Now add to this that fact that Faramir was raised by his father as sole parent shortly after his mother died while he was still quite young [see appendices in ROTK] and you can see how PJ came to paint a picture of Faramir as a young man driven to prove himself in the eyes of his father and liege, and at the same time live up the standards of his brother as a leader and warrior. Taken in that light, Faramir’s comment in the movie about “a chance…to show his quality.” is no longer a reply to Sam’s challenge as it is the novel, but rather a statement that he finally has the opportunity to show Denethor his true worth and earn his love. I would argue that this is backed up somewhat by the fact that, in spite of movie Galadriel’s fears, he never actually takes the Ring for himself, but rather dedicates it to Denethor. Some people have said that Faramir in the movie acts unlike others tempted by the Ring and that is correct. He does not fall under the spell of the Ring per se, but rather briefly succumbs to the desire to be esteemed by his cold and detached father.

Well, as Aragorn says in the books, “That is my tale. Others might be contrived.” It has taken mutilple viewings, but I am no longer deeply disappointed in the portrayal of Faramir, though I won’t deny I am hoping that the extended DVD later in the year will lift the rendering of the character as much toward the Professor’s imaginings as the FOTR release did with Galadriel.

P.S. One thing that does actually bother me a lot more in the movie is the fact that when questioned about Gollum by Faramir, Frodo lies. That, I think, is something the Professor would not have abided.