Tolkein

If you are a fan of J.R.R. Tolkein and his Lord of the Rings trilogy, not to mention The Hobbit, then I have just the movie for you. This movie takes the budding Oxford Don and author from his family’s return to Lancashire from South Africa after his father and mother’s deaths, through life in a boarding house and public school through just after the First World War where he fought in the devestating and horrific Battle of the Somme, serving as an infantry officer. Along the way, he joins a  group of four comrades, fast friends until the war breaks their “fellowship.”  Nicholas Hoult plays Tolkien as a young student and adult, while Harry Gilby is him as a child.  The story takes him through his meeting with the woman he’d eventually marry, after some trevails, and his acceptance into Oxford where he eventually joins the languages department.  Sprinkled throughout the basic story are snippets of his experiences in the Somme and of his enduring public school  friendships that might have been the basis for many parts of the  Rings books.  The thing that fans of these stories will appreciate are the many Easter Eggs sprinkled throughout, all alluding to the works that he would write later in life.  One example had to do with his batman (a servant soldier) in the front lines  who helped Tolkein when he had trench fever.  At one point of the story, this many even carries the ailing Tolkein over his shoulder.  His name?  Sam, of course.  This movie also details how Tolkein courted and married his wife, Edith ( Lilly Collins).  I found this part of the story sweet, and very relatable. However, if you are not a fan of Tolkein’s books, I am not sure you will enjoy this movie as much as you might.  The story telling is a bit disjointed and there really isn’t any action to speak of except some brutal and realistic scenes from the war.  I learned a lot about the life of Tolkein that I didn’t know, and after doing some research, I discovered that the movie does a good job of presenting his life as accurately as possible.  If you are a fan, I recommend this story, if you are not a fan, may I suggest you read “The Hobbit” and then see the movie. It will be better than you might think (it really isn’t bad at all, but the back story will be clearer), and you will  find out for yourself why he has been called by some the Father of Fantasy.