November 30, 2003

Re: Faramir's Quality
Danny

I agree with jazz_man about Faramir. The books make it very clear that Faramir didn't trust Gollum and the fact that he was Frodo's guide was his greatest cause for discomfort. In the book, Faramir does interrogate Gollum about their destination and he didn't have kind words to say to him about them. In film emotions often have to be shown in more visually vivid ways.

I enjoyed seeing the moment where Faramir finds out their destination. To me it demonstrated how much Faramir was concerned for the Hobbit's welfare. Honestly, can you blame a man who has everything riding on his decision to disobey his father? By letting Frodo go, he knows that he will bring the anger and disapproval of his father on him even more, and that his only redemption in his father's eyes would be if Frodo succeeds. So to Faramir not only is final victory for all hanging on his decision, but also his own redemption in his father's eyes. Can you imagine Faramir delivering the line "may death find you quickly if you lead them to harm" differently? Maybe something like this: Faramir pulls Gollum aside and in a very prim and proper accent tells him,"Please be aware that I will want death to find you quickly if you lead them to harm." I don't think so. Everything was riding on this decision and on Faramir's letting Gollum be their guide. That line had to be emotionally charged or it wouldn't have worked. The line was important and so was the delivery.

I would have prefered to not have the soldiers beating Gollum, but it didn't bother me too much either. An evil twisted creature has potentially revealed Ithilien's location to the enemy. The fact that Faramir spared Gollum's life, and stepped in to stop his men from expressing their fear and hatred towards one who appeared to them to be an enemy says a lot about Faramir. He does look like he could be an orc, and it was clear that he was not on Gondor's side. Even so Faramir did step in and stop it pretty quickly.

So I am not bothered by the additions to Faramir's screen time. Actually I think they are improvements across the board.