November 4, 2003

Old Man Willow and Gollum’s Beating
Niphredil

I was just having another read through TTT extended edition review by Illuvatar. I think it is great how PJ and Co are including the Old Man Willow scene in Fangorn, and I think it will work really well. This will make the forest seem more dangerous and it will be great to hear Bombadil’s lines to Old Man Willow (even if Treebeard is saying them instead) "You let them out again....Eat earth! Dig Deep! Drink water!".

Most of the other additional scenes sound great as well except for the one where Faramir’s men beat the crap out of Gollum during Faramir’s interrogation. To refresh your memory, this is the quote from Illuvatar:

“There is additional footage of Faramir's interrogation of Gollum by showing Faramir's men actually beating Gollum. They go so far as to kick him and he is held as another one punches him. He's actually beaten pretty badly.“

This did not sit well with me as I read it. I don’t think this says much for the Men of Gondor or for Captain Faramir, and is nothing like what happened in the book. I know some people have tried to defend PJ’s Faramir by saying that Frodo’s actions/secrecy on their meeting explains Faramir’s behaviour, but I can’t think of any reason why Faramir would allow a captured, defenceless Gollum to be beaten in this manner. This is definitely not the Faramir from the Book, and I must say that I was quite upset when I read this. Does anyone else have an opinion about this additional scene?