Could it have worked?

[Gurthang]

Man, that does sound like a great idea. I would love to see that. There are already some good thoughts posted here, so let me just add:

Initially, I hated the movie Faramir. The first time I saw RotK in theatres, I thought it made him out to be a bad guy. The EE helped a lot, yet he still seemed to have weak character, and that's what I didn't like. Yet the part that still bothers me the most is that meaningless trek to Osgiliath. If you take that out, you could get both Estel's idea and Imladris's flash-forward in with plenty of room to spare. I don't know, maybe those ideas wouldn't have worked (I don't see why!) but I just wish we could take Osgiliath out of the picture!

Oh, and I wouldn't mind not seeing that brutal scene with Gollum again. The one where Faramir watches two of his men beat Smeagol. And then that bizarre exchange of words between them, well, actually I thought that was kinda *cough* funny, but, ehem. But the beating made Faramir look cruel and really made me not like him.

[Boromir88]

I don't see it necessary in changing Faramir's character. I don't see how it would drag down the effect of the ring. A big aspect in Tolkien is that nothing is "all-powerful," everything has it's own limits and weaknesses. Gandalf can't chuck a mountain at a batallion of orcs, the ring CAN be resisted at certain times, Sauron has his own weaknesses, everyone and everything has their own limits. To portray the ring as this all-powerful, unstoppable force I just don't think it works.

I do think TTT EE does give Faramir some justice, as it shows he is pressured by his father, however I think this actually drags Faramir's character down even from an entertainment standpoint. It portrays Faramir as a whiny Captain searching for the approval of his father. Far more entertaining to me is as shown in Tolkien is that everyone has their own minds. Even king's servants, guards, and sons have a mind of their own and are able to judge what is good and what is not. They are able to think for themselves instead of being mindless robots always seeking to do their lord's will. Beregond, Hama, and Faramir are all examples of this. And I think to make them mindless robots only drags down their character.

Imladris I like your idea of creating this sort of flash-back scene (or more like a "What would happen") between Faramir and the Ring. Also on a side...

In fact, PJ sort of touched on this when Faramir first saw the Ring...except it should have been bigger in a more subtle way.

Jackson seems as if he doesn't like subtlety as he beats a lot of things into our heads (Gimli's humorous character, Denethor the punching bag and slob...)

[Elendhel]

I think it was completely possible to have Faramir appear as he did in the book.

Look at the fellowship (Excluding Boromir of course) the Ring had little effect on any of them at all, and yet that did not leave anyone questioning the power and allure of the Ring.

Faramir's resistance would have been (is) a refection upon his strength of character, not on the weakness of the Ring itself.

It seems that Frodo, Boromir, Denethor, Gollum, Sauron, Saruman and Gandalf are the only people in the film that express any desire for the ring at all (excepting the prologue in which case include Isildur). Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, I could very well be. That hardly speaks of the Rings formidable hold over willpower. But the film makes it clear that the Ring is powerful, we didn't need Frodo to face a threat from Faramir.

[Boromir88]

Look at the fellowship (Excluding Boromir of course) the Ring had little effect on any of them at all, and yet that did not leave anyone questioning the power and allure of the Ring.

That's mostly because Boromir was easy prey for the Ring and the Ring had really no need to work on anyone else. Boromir was the ideal person for the Ring to work on and if he wasn't in the Fellowship it would have found somebody else. Bottom line is Boromir was just the first, and easiest to fall to the ring, and that's why Frodo realized he had to get out of the Fellowship. And once Boromir is out of the picture, in steps Gollum, another easy target...

[Elendhel]

I understand that the fact that the Ring worked it's magic on Boromir means that it had no reason to affect any (more) of the fellowship, and that just confirims my point. There was plenty to suggest that the Ring had power over people. Faramir did not need to be tempted.

Despite the ratio of people that were tempted to the people who weren't, it was clear that the Ring had significant power.

[Meneltarmacil]

Actually, as far as the Fellowship goes, Aragorn also seems to be tempted a little near the end of FOTR, though he resists it.

I do think that Faramir's bringing Frodo, Sam, and Gollum to Osgiliath was not really necessary. Having him show signs of seriously being tempted by the Ring and just barely resisting it while making things tense for Frodo is probably enough. The idea of a flash-forward would fit in really well with PJ's style too.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

I think the idea was to give Frodo a threat. Remember that Shelob wasn't there to supply an awesome cliffhanger ( ) so the Director had to give Frodo some action. So he just warped Faramir into a baddie for most of the film.

Sad, I know; but Faramir's not the major character and is thus expendable (not that our major characters were immune from creative liberty but o well...)

My main problem with the Faramir-Osgiliath story is that it's boring and uninteresting. So-called 'action scenes' are not necessarily better than intense Frodo-Faramir interrogation (which would actually include acting).

Think about it this way: We already had the Battle at Helm's Deep; we didn't need much more 'action'! Let's get some acting in the films; that's going to be much better than having some random Gondorian soldier shouting "Look out!" shortly before a wall in Osgiliath collapses. (And how come all the action and noise stopped for a couple of seconds so that everyone could hear that guy's helpful remark? What was that all about?)

Free Faramir! Send Shelob back to TTT!