LeadershipConneXtions

The Hobbit (The Movie)

 

“Great stories give us the grace
of a mystical experience,
on the level of the imagination.”  

The Philosophy of Tolkien:
The Worldview Behind the Lord of the Rings
by Peter Kreeft

What can I say about The Hobbit? Well, to say anything I have to take a detour.

I am a Raving Fan of J.R.R. Tolkien.

I read books about Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings world he created. Let me bore you for a minute.

I've read The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy at least 20 times. I started when I was in 7th grade. I would often re-read them on a yearly basis.

And I've read (not in any order):

• The Silmarillion
• Unfinished Tales
• The Children of Hurin 
• The Father Christmas Letters
• The Book of Lost Tales, Volume 1 and Volume 2 (First two volumes in the 12 volume History of Middle Earth. Someday I'll read  the rest of this series).

I read books about Tolkien. One of my favorites is The Philosophy of Tolkien by Peter Kreeft. I just read two more books about Tolkien in light of the release of The Hobbit.

I'm a Tolkien geek.

I am a purist.

Watching the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy by Peter Jackson . . . parts of it I loved and other parts were deeply disappointing. If you haven't read the books, but only watched the movies, as valiantly as Jackson seeks to follow the story, whenever he departs from it - the story is diminished. I can live with some of that (emphasis on some...). 

So I tempered my expectations of the trilogy. Enjoyed it mostly. Screamed (in my head) at times. Although apparently I am not that frustrated because I've had multiple viewings of the trilogy.

 

Enter The Hobbit . . .

Or Part One of three of The Hobbit.

I am aware that as of this sentence I have gone over 300 words in this post. I have about 90 words left... so unlike Jackson - I'll be brief.

I liked it. A lot.

The Hobbit was a child's story. Much different from the Lord of the Rings. The Hobbit grew and evolved as a book. It has internal inconsistencies. It doesn't always feel like the Middle Earth Tolkien created. It is simple. Unadorned. 

And Jackson's Lord of the Rings was a magisterial creation. How can he go backward and make a less than that Hobbit? He can't... and he won't. I understand that.

And, in my opinion, he mostly succeeds. For those who have not read the book... half of the movie was sheer adaptation and insertion of scenes and characters that are not in The Hobbit. But that's okay for me. In most cases, the characters and the scenes are the "in-between stuff" of The Hobbit. I like what Jackson did with this.

 

Pet peeves.

I have about four of them, with one being: The dwarfs are not dwarfs in this depiction. They are too human. But movies need good looking humans and not 12 versions of Gimli. Another more serious one is that Bilbo's character actually recedes TOO much in this version. Jackson has decided to upgrade this original "fellowship of the ring" to keep the movie interesting. Thorin the dwarf gets as much attention as does Bilbo. Gandalf becomes more central to the story. Bilbo recedes in part one. 

Likes and Really Likes

I have about twenty of them... and now I have gone on way tooo looonnng. So I'll stop.

But - I liked it. Quite a bit. Saw it twice. Wanted to see it one more time on the big screen but time flew by. What I liked most about it is that Tolkien did it first as the author and then Jackson does it as a director.

“Great stories give us the grace of a mystical experience, on the level of the imagination (Peter Kreeft).

I have been "graced" by Tolkien and Jackson. I eagerly await Part Two.

opps... 656 words... 657, 658, 659...

p.s.  That is it for my thoughts on movies.  Tomorrow . . .

Brian K. Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
BrianRice@lcileaders.org 

 

 

 

Lincoln (The Movie): Through a Screen Darkly . . .

 By means of all created things, without exception, the divine assails us, penetrates us and molds us. We imagined it as distant and inaccessible, whereas in fact we live steeped in its burning layers.  Teilhard De Chardin, The Divine Milieu

 
"Poetry is a way of remembering what it would impoverish us to forget" (Robert Frost). This is true of the great movies as it of poetry. It is true of Lincoln.

Many of you know I love movies.

I watch them for sheer entertainment.
I watch them to be moved and inspired.
I watch them to learn. 

The best of these movies help me think about life... about the things that matter... about the thigns, that if I forget them - I am impoverished. And about how I am doing on these themes that matter most.

I study leadership. I read about leaders. Lincoln is one of my favorite U.S. Presidents for lessons on leadership (Theodore Roosevelt is another by the way).  

I highly recommend the short little book - Lincoln on Leadership by Donald Phillips... just to see leadership lessons illustrated in Lincoln's life and presidency.

Of course there is the longer and outstanding - With Malice Toward None: A Life of Abraham Lincon by Stephen Oates.

And then there is the book  - Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln and the one chapter in it that was the basis for the movie - Lincoln (by the way, I have not read this particular book).

Anyway - I study leadership and leaders and Lincoln is one of my heroes. So I had high expectations or the movie - and they were EXCEEDED wonderfully.

This is a movie about dark times, about momentous events, about titantic choices, about terrible and great deeds . . . and those who lived in these times and made these choices and acted these deeds. 

It is a movie about despair, death,  ruin and grief. It is a story about moral courage and vital optimism and about the will to do what is right even when to do what is right will come with a price tag almost beyond imagining.

Therefore, it is a movie about Heroic Leadership (and I use that phrase with great caution and belief).

I loved this movie because it was slow, dark, measured, introspective, moody... much like those times must have been. Much like Lincoln was.

I loved the portrayal of Lincoln by Golden Globe winner - Daniel Day Lewis. He became Lincoln for me.

Becky and I went down to Washington D.C. recently. To my embarrassment - before this visit (at age 56) I had never seem the Lincoln Memorial. We went and visited it. It was a profound moment. Gazing upon Lincoln's statue... the nobility of this man... and the greatness of his just cause... and the horrific price paid... all came back to me.

There are things we see now, dimly, partially, darkly...

Really great movies help us see a little more clearly...

If you haven't already seen it, allow Lincoln to help you see a little more clearly as well.

For those who did see it - what did you think of the movie?

Brian K. Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
BrianRice@lcileaders.org 

 
p.s.  I read books on films and movies. One very good book is Through a Screen Darkly: Looking Closer at Beauty, Truth and Evil in the Movie by Jeffrey Overstreet. A really good book that reviews good movies and looks for beauty, truth and evil.  Check it out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Great Debaters

Becky and I went to see The Great Debaters on New Year's Eve. I liked it a lot. A powerful movie about leadership in the context of the plight of the African Americans prior to the Civil Rights Movement. I will definitely rent it when it is out on video and watch it again.

Leadership stuff I liked in the movie:

1. Passionate commitment to learning and growth.
2. Great examples of mentoring and of a protege who becomes a mentor just like his mentor. Awesome stuff!
3. Courage and willingness to risk much for a cause that is just.
4. The power of great communication to persuade hearts and minds.
5. The "humanness" of the leaders portrayed. They all have their deep flaws and brokenness.
6. The power of team.

Go see the movie and be inspired and moved.

Brian Rice