Osgiliath: Internal Battle

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=200 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="006dba33.gif"> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Just a Dream"><U>"Just a Dream"</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="A Little Bit of Home"><U>A Little Bit of Home</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id5.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Forbidden Pool"><U>The Forbidden Pool</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id6.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Faramir and the Ring"><U>Faramir and the Ring</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id7.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Osgiliath: Theyre Here"><U>Osgiliath: "They're Here"</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id8.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Osgiliath: On the Steps"><U>Osgiliath: On the Steps</U></A></div> <div> <B>Osgiliath: Internal Battle</B></div> <div> <A HREF="id10.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="WideScreen Sword Fall"><U>Wide-Screen Sword Fall</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id11.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Osgiliath: Leaving"><U>Osgiliath: Leaving</U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=94 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="006dba33.gif"> <div> <A HREF="http://www.frodolivesin.us" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.frodolivesin.us"><U><IMG SRC="00aef530.jpg" border=0 width="239" height="83" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <bR> <div>   |     <A HREF="http://www.frodolivesin.us" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.frodolivesin.us"><U>home</U></A><A HREF="http://www.frodolivesin.us" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.frodolivesin.us"><U> </U></A> |  back to  <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Two Towers"><U><B>The Two Towers</B></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=386 colspan=2 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="006dba33.gif"> <bR> <div> <I><B>Osgiliath: Internal Battle</B></I></div> <div> <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Internal Battle1"><U>Internal Battle-1</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Internal Battle2"><U>Internal Battle-2</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Internal Battle3"><U>Internal Battle-3</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Internal Battle4"><U>Internal Battle-4</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Internal Battle5"><U>Internal Battle-5</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Internal Battle6"><U>Internal Battle-6</U></A></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="2cd950e0.gif" border=0 width="405" height="14" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> It's impossible to point to one quintessential Elijah Wood scene in <I>TTT</I>, much less in the entire trilogy, but this has to be one of the top contenders.  It also shows some reasons Frodo, Frolijah, and Elijah are overlooked and underappreciated by a lot of people.</div> <div> How have you heard this scene described?  Frodo attacking Sam?  Frodo holding Sting at Sam's throat?  Maybe even Frodo almost killing his best friend?</div> <div> But look at it slowly enough to see what's really happening, and it becomes something else entirely:  Frodo using everything he's got to save Sam's life.</div> <div> The frames on these six pages take only a few seconds onscreen.  There could very well be a question as to whether the interpretation I'm giving here is correct.  But I don't think there's any question this is a "How does he <I>do </I>it?" shot.  In such a short time, I don't see how it could all be <I>consciously </I>acted out. </div> <div> What I see is the battle between the Ring's will and that of Frodo played out moment by moment on Frodo's face.  It can't all be put into words or objectively analyzed, but there are a few things that I think give a base to work from:</div> <div> The Ring wants to act; Frodo wants to stop it.  So the more control the Ring has, the faster the action.  If the frame's blurred, the Ring's in charge. </div> <div> The "face" of the Ring is more bestial.  Watch the wrinkles across and along the nose - sounds funny, but the more hold the Ring has, the more animal-like snarl the nose has.  (For a comparison, I looked at the scene where Frodo draws Sting on Gollum after Gollum attacks Sam.  Even in the similar "victim's eye view" frames there's nary a wrinkle. Frodo's solidly in charge.)</div> <div> The change in overall facial expression during this shot has been interpreted as "Frodo realizing what he's doing."  But I think Frodo knows what's happening all along, which must have been horrifying!  The change occurs as his will claws its way back in charge, and we see <I>Frodo's</I> facial expression more and more as that of the Ring fades out.  </div> <div> These pages are very image intensive, so may take awhile to load.  The pics are shown frame-by-frame, even during stretches where nothing much seems to change, because I think the length of those moments when the two wills are perfectly balanced is important in itself--and also because I have the feeling other people could find "clues" that I've missed, so I hate to leave certain frames out just because<I> I </I>don't see anything in them.  Any comments are in the top part of the page, rather than between the caps, to keep everything equally spaced. </div> <div> Use the list above to choose a page, or start here:</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Internal Battle1"><U><IMG SRC="0387d3c0.jpg" border=0 width="125" height="60" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>