[The Saucepan Man]

Interesting article, Helen. But I am not sure that I wholly agree with it. The author says:<P> <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> It’s no wonder that many viewers are thinking of Sam — who follows Frodo at a distance and (as in the book) eventually saves his life — as the real hero of the piece. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>But wasn't that Tolkien's own view, as expressed in his <I>Letters</I>, that Sam is the real hero of the story?<P>Personally, I feel that there is sufficient material in the books to justify Frodo's degeneration in RotK. Yes, even to the extent of him sending Sam home, which set up what was, for me, a great sequence in Shelob's lair. To my mind, the fault with that line was that Sam actually does set off home, which I cannot believe he would ever have done. I would much have preferred it if the film had just left him sitting there in tears.<P>I did think that Elijah's Frodo succumbed to the Ring too much in TTT. But I thought that his degeneration was played just right in RotK. To my mind, it mirrors the way in which Frodo is portrayed during the closing chapters of the book. And, without it, Frodo's final decision to claim the Ring would have seemed too unbelieveable, particularly to film (ie non-book reading) audiences. It is also consistent with the way that Jackson has chosen to play up the power of the Ring.<P>Although I found Elijah Wood's portrayal of Frodo as just a little bit <I>too</I> "wimpy" (for want of a better word) in the two previous films, I thought that his portrayal in the RotK film was spot on. It was a real eye-opener, and I have a lot more respect for Elijah Wood after having seen this film. The expressions playing across his face as he held the Ring over the Crack of Doom were just fantastic, and his delivery of "The Ring is mine" was, for me, just perfect.<P>Oh, and minimal eye-rolling too - did someone have a word with him about that? <P>In this film, I felt that Elijah's Frodo really came of age.