Fan Film: “Tolkien’s Road”, My Review

Every now and then you come across something remarkable on the Internet, well worth sharing. “Tolkien’s Road” is just such a thing. We’ll call it a Silmaril in the rough for it is not perfect but it is certainly very close to perfection. Rather than dwell on the imperfections in such a jewel it is far better to dwell on the near-perfections.

This movie looks deep inside Tolkien’s imagination (from a fan’s point of view). There are no Great Debates here, no dramatic miscitations for effect and persuasion. This is purely a story told for the love of telling stories.

Writer/Director Nye Green brings together a talented cast on an obviously short budget to produce a magnificent excursion into the imagination of what Tolkien’s imagination must have been like. The movie itself asks a very important (and pertinent) question: What is the difference between fantasy and reality?

Casey E. Lewis plays John Ronald Reuel Tolkien in this charming epic of fannish proportions. We see Tolkien struggling to finish The Book of Lost Tales when he becomes sidetracked by his imagination. Whether the details of the story are true to life does not matter; this is surely how it happened, for we can see from the many starts and stops that Tolkien’s imagination was unruled, wild, and ever-changing. He could take inspiration from anything and often did. And so we follow him down his “road” via the film-maker’s eye.

That road should seem familiar to anyone who has read The Book of Lost Tales, for it is the very same road (or a very similar one) to that which Eriol himself traveled one evening long ago. The allusions are quite well done, very subtle, overlaid with obvious references to The Lord of the Rings (which in 1925-30 was still not yet even a dream in the future).

There is an iconic image well into the film where we see Tolkien walking beside a creature of his imagination. I don’t know how long it took to set up that shot but it is a great example of foreshadowing through the imagination.

Alexander Rupert Green plays Tolkien’s friend C.S. Lewis. If he seems at times a bit lost and out of place in the story you have the right feeling for he was himself on his own journey. Their paths often intertwined but each man saw his own world.

And whether intentionally or otherwise the movie provides an interesting commentary on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Tolkien lived and worked during a time when we did not know what it was. Sometimes it was called “battlefield nerves” or “shellshock”, but it was the deeply ingrained human reaction to horrible or horrifying experiences. Tolkien’s fiction is generally regarded as a cathartic, healing process for him. He may have suffered from PTSD, or perhaps he avoided that consequence of war through his writing. Many survivors from his generation were emotionally tarred and bruised from the war, as happens after each war.

The human mind is capable of doing incredible things to save itself, to heal, and to move on. Sometimes it becomes stuck, which is a symptom of PTSD. In Tolkien’s case I would not say he was stuck so much as he searched for the right path. He never quite found it but he seems to have enjoyed himself along the way. He took time to appreciate the journey, perhaps a little too much.

I think that is part of what makes this film so amazing. The film-maker, cast, and crew are clearly taking time to enjoy the journey. You can see that in the actors’ eyes when they are singing in the pub (I shall not spoil the scene for you further — you MUST watch it).

Maybe Nye Green has topped himself out early in his career, but I certainly hope not. For as I said above, this is really a Silmaril in the rough; not fully finished. It is more than a “mere essay in the craft” but it smacks of a promise of something more to come. If you are an indie film fan you will want to follow Nye’s career carefully.

Maybe he will find some commercial success due to this film and other projects. But whatever path he treds in the future, I hope his days and nights are filled with the singing of Elves and the gentle remonstrances of Hobbits, who remember that good food and song are important matters.

You will be tempted to watch this movie more than once. I am sure I will.

Namarie!

Please let me know what you think either in the comments below or at SF-Fandom’s forum discussion. Free registration is required to post. All new registrations are moderated but we’ll try to get them reviewed as quickly as possible.