Tolkien

While this film is well made and well acted, it completely misses the essence of J.R.R. Tolkien. His deep devotion to the Catholic Church is reduced to a couple of conversations with the priest who became his legal guardian. The influence of this priest is severely diminished, especially considering he helped raise the young man. Tolkien’s faith was not incidental - it was an essential part of his being and permeates his writing. I can completely understand his family’s objection to this movie.

Having read a few of biographies on Tolkien I went into the movie wondering how much would be abridged and/or compressed to give a sense of the man. Three important aspects of his life that were pretty much ignored to tell a 'Hollywood' story: His relationship with C.S.Lewis, his faith, his fascination with languages.This movie still gets two stars because it wasn't a bad movie, just hardly accurate from the source material I've read and there wasn't much glaring that was loathsome.

I have been a lover of J.R.R. Tolkien's writings since the age of 12 in 1969. His words have brightened my life immeasurably, and I treasure every one of them. I have read his biographies and even spoken with some people who knew him. Therefore it was with some trepidation that I heard the news that a film of Tolkien's early life was in the works, because I feared that it would trivialize and make mundane so much that is wonderful.I am pleased to say that my worries were overblown. While no dramatization is perfect, I can say that this film has many beautiful moments. Much of this is due to the fine performances by Nicholas Hoult, Lily Collins, and the rest of the cast, especially including the young people who portrayed Tolkien, his school fellows, and his beloved Edith in their earlier years. I loved the depictions of the camaraderie of Tolkien and the other members of the famous Tea Club and Barrovian Society, the friendship and growing love between Tolkien and Edith, and his other relationships with his mother, his younger brother, his guardian Father Francis Morgan, his professors at the King Edward VI School and Oxford, and his fellow soldiers on the Western Front. The battle scenes depicted throughout the movie are among the most realistic depictions of the horrors of trench warfare that I have seen. Viewers can better see and comprehend how the boy and man came to write works which after nearly a century pull at so many hearts and affect those who read them forever.Because this is a dramatization and not a documentary of Tolkien's life there are some inevitable "adjustments" (some would say "distortions") in the chronology. Tolkien had switched from studying Classics to reading Anglo-Saxon at Oxford well before the outbreak of World War I, for example, and he and Edith had been married for nearly a year before he was shipped off to fight in France. My greatest regret is that the all-important dance in a forest clearing Edith performed for Tolkien in 1917 which gave rise to his great Tale of Beren and Luthien did not receive the attention it really deserves from the film's makers. Nevertheless there is magic in this film, not as much as is to be found in Tolkien's own books, but a taste. If seeing it inspires a viewer to read them for the first time, then it will be worth it.

This be nominated for oscars in acting, directing, and best picture, even if it has a straight white protagonist, don't let that turn you off like it did the 'critics'. This is a fantastic story, about the life that lead a man to write a fantastic story.

I have been a fan of Tolkien's writing for nearly 40 years. This movie was a wonderful complement to the writing. I felt the casting was spot on, and the telling of his story was very nice. I had several moments where they have dropped small hints in the movie that relate to his books that gave me chills.

This biopic covers the early years of the famed British writer J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973). The narration is elliptical, alternating between brutal scenes of trench warfare, and flashbacks to earlier times. Tolkien lost both his parents at a young age. Living in poverty, he sought refuge in the life of the mind. In school, he joined a club of intellectuals, who indulged their passion for language, philosophy and literature. Several members went on to study at Oxford. World War I interrupted their studies, and two of his friends were killed in action. Tolkien narrowly avoided the same fate. After the war, he returned to Oxford, eventually became a professor, and a popular writer. The film depicts him as a compassionate person, deeply devoted to his wife, and as a gifted writer whose imagination almost redefined the high fantasy genre.

It's great drama for every fan of The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings because it goes into depth about his life as an author; multilingual, his passion for adventure, love, and fighting in WW1 as a soldier. This movie is for anyone who loves J.R.R Tolkien and wants to know about his time before Oxford, where he later met C.S Lewis. We see him as a young man in the world where and when he was creating Middle Earth at his desk .

We were expecting something more innovative and involved for a film about Tolkien. Although the movie is well made, it is so slow, boring, and uninteresting, that a couple of us fell asleep. Nicholas Hoult, who played the main character, was kind of a dud. Two stars.

The film meets with a very mixed reception from critic's and reviewers alike, It didn't do well at the box-office, having now watched it I do wonder what it was that was expected?I myself found the story which was told very much from the trenches of carnage in WW1 from the recollections of his youth when he and his brother became orphaned, up to and including John's time at Oxford leading up to the outbreak of war, very absorbing and indeed very moving/poignant.The story tells of how after his mother's passing his guardian places John and brother in the care of a wealthy woman who cares for youngsters in need of help.There the young J.R.R (Nicholas Hoult) /(Harry Gilby) as the young J.R.R, meets Edith Bratt (Lily Collins) who is also looked after, she would become his wife later on.John graduates to Oxford where the friendships forged between him and three fellow students at their previous school develop into an unbreakable fellowship.War interrupts John's education, however, Edith will wait for his return from the front.The friendships and experiences throughout his early years to adulthood will inspire his writing of books such as The Hobbit (1937) The Lord Of The Rings and Two Towers (1954) and indeed The Return Of The King (1955)John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, this his story.Maybe not everyone's cup-of-tea, but, I myself found it a brilliant watch.....give it a go.

I didn't dislike anything about this film, I enjoyed all of it! The main reasons I enjoyed it was it showed what inspired him ,and the life shaping events that were the foundation of his work? It was particularly fascinating to see how the love affair with his wife helped shape the love story of Aragorn (the King of Men), and an Elvish Princess , whom he married.The film is shot against the backdrop of WW1, and it shows how these earth shaping events affected the narratives in "The Lord of The Rings" , and "The Hobbit"!

A charming and quaint film about an author who is so well-known for his fantasy heroic writings that we do not know much about him. I have often considered Tolkien along with H.GH. Wells, C.S. Lewis, and T.S. Eliot. They all lived in a way or another the drama of the First World War that led to the Second World War that did not redeem our sorry fate at all and that brought in the Cold War which was even worse than the first two, and it is still going on now the USA who believed all along they were the greatest masters of the world are confronted to the emergence of a different world in which they will not be the leaders, the global coppers or sheriffs, the supreme masters.The film concentrates on that period, the teenage and youth of Tolkien up to the publication of his first novel The Hobbit in 1937, in fact, a long time before this publication since all the children seem to be under ten. As an orphan from a rather poor family entrusted to a Catholic priest till the age of 21, his getting up in the world was very difficult. He had to win a scholarship for his studies, and he targeted Oxford. He found his way only late but surely: ancient Germanic languages? He seemed to be a born linguist able to learn languages easily and especially, to speak or at least read them. That brought him into a culture of sagas and mythologies that have to do with dragons, warriors, heroes and gallant wars and adventures. He invested in his future writing his experience of before and during WW1. Before he bonded with three other teens and then tweens in some secret society or club. But the war brought an end to that.Two of the four young men were killed, a third one survived but estranged himself from the past and Tolkien found himself alone, except that the young woman he had known before the war and he met again in Folkstone on his way to France waited for him and looked after him in his hospital bed. Tolkien was seized with a fit of trench-fever and was delirious on the battlefield and brought back in and then back to England for treatment. He apparently was unconscious and probably delirious for quite a while. But the young woman was there, and they married soon after and you know what was next in those days: many children.The sequence or sequences describing him in the trenches before the Somme Battle are probably the most horrid sequences you can imagine about this war that we still, in a way, celebrate. It was an inexcusable episode in the history of humanity, and we should be ashamed of all the monuments we have built after this war, of all the wasteful and senseless celebrations and rituals we dedicate to this war. It was nothing but a four-year-long slaughtering endeavor to kill as many men as possible, to destroy as many military equipments to get rid of what had been accumulated for decades and thus to open up the gates to produce more pf these lethal sordid and vicious tools.After four years of this devilish waste, life did not go back to normal since we started straight away to prepare for the next one. How foolish humanity can be.That makes the film slightly hollow, like the poem written by T.S. Eliot in 1925, the Hollow Men.We are the hollow menWe are the stuffed menLeaning togetherHeadpiece filled with straw. Alas!Our dried voices, whenWe whisper togetherAre quiet and meaninglessAs wind in dry grassOr rats' feet over broken glassIn our dry cellar…This is the way the world endsThis is the way the world endsThis is the way the world endsNot with a bang but a whimper.It was a time when men were made of straw, men were made of tin, and when a cowardly lion and a little girl Dorothy accompanied them. That triad of males around this poor little girl are pathetic in their helplessness. They are Hollow Men à la T.S. Eliot. The only point on which T.S. Eliot was wrong was the end of this strange era. It was not a whimper. It definitely was a conflagration that brought at the very least 50 million direct dead casualties, but the millions that were maimed for the rest of their life that was shorter because of it, and all those who were not born, are not counted. That was a loud enough bang. And it took twenty years for Tolkien to transmute this horrible suffering and the horrendous experience of humanity to find some alleviation in literature, and yet it is a fantasy heroic war story, whereas his contemporary C.S. Lewis imagined a world in which conflict existed but war was banned or stopped before it ever started. True enough H.G. Wells imagined a completely white society in which all people of color, except, as he says, Jews because they intermarry, would be eliminated from the surface of the globe. That sounds like The Brave New World of Aldous Huxley where the people were manufactured in five strictly segregated classes with some kind of reservation for the savages who could not fit in this world that finds like a beastlike echo in George Orwell’s Animal Farm and William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. And I must say to conclude that this Lord of so many flies sounds a lot like The Lord of the Rings, and this one also sounds like The Ring of the Nibelung by Wagner that is present in the film, but from the wings only.I understand that the Tolkien Estate and the Tolkien family, apparently led by Christopher Tolkien, are strongly opposed to the film. Let me quote the Guardian a little bit.“The family and estate of JRR Tolkien have fired a broadside against the forthcoming film starring Nicholas Hoult as a young version of the author, saying that they “do not endorse it or its content in any way”.Out in May, and starring Hoult in the title role and Lily Collins as his wife Edith, Tolkien explores “the formative years of the renowned author’s life as he finds friendship, courage, and inspiration among a fellow group of writers and artists at school”. . .On Tuesday morning, the estate and family of Tolkien issued a terse statement in which they announced their “wish to make clear that they did not approve of, authorise or participate in the making of this film”, and that “they do not endorse it or its content in any way”.A spokesperson for the estate told the Guardian that the statement was intended to make its position clear, rather than heralding future legal action.John Garth, author of the biography Tolkien and the Great War, said he felt the estate’s response to the film was “sensible”.” (The Guardian, Tuesday 23 April 2019)Though I find the film slightly cut off from the reality of what happened after the war and particularly how Tolkien was connected to other writers of the time who were also university professors, like him, I find the moderate position of the estate and the family totally out of place. They can exercise their privileges on the copyrighted works, and even on the moral right of the author, but they have no right to tell us what is supposed to be said about J.R.R. Tolkien who is a public figure that anyone in the public can consider and study.Enjoy the film and forget about the various interests some around the man may demonstrate.Dr. Jacques COULARDEAU

What a story! I have known fans of Lord of the Rings, however I was never very enthusiastic - never read the books, but have watched the dvds. The study of the man himself, however, is a different story. Tolkien's life was marked with disappointments and tragedies, however he managed to write the wonderful tale of Lord of the Rings. The part of Tolkien is beautifully played along with the other young actors who were his mates. It is always amazing to see what a man's world it was and what devestating impact the first World War had on this generation! Both myself and my husband enjoyed watching the dvd.

A very good film about the life of JRR Tolkien from childhood, through World War I, and writing The Hobbit whilst being an academic at Oxford after World War I. The film does not cover the later years of Tolkien's life.In fact, I liked the film a lot and it is family viewing. There is no sex or nudity, which is just fine by me. The going back and forth in time, with bits of fantasy thrown in, could be a bit confusing. The complete lack of headgear for schoolchildren was probably a mistake. Schoolboys of the era would have had either a boater or a cap, and I didn't see either. I thought the acting was very good.So why four stars and not five stars? Just a feeling. It was a very good film, but not quite up there with Paths of Glory by Stanley Kubrick or the 1930's Oscar winning All Quiet on the Western Front. Still very definitely worth buying and watching though.