The holidays are here at last, and I have finally taken some time to relax, sleep in, visit with all of my family, and eat all my parents delicious home cooked meals. I would say my mothers, but you know it is amazing, my father did a lot of the cooking while I was home, and he is getting really good at it. He would benefit from having my mother go and retype all the recipies with the 'real' instructions, rather than the skeleton guidelines which my mother has used for years, and made many adjustments to in her head to suit the oven, the size of our family, etc etc. But really, it is great to see my Dad up to his elbows in chopped veggies and grated cheese, making lunch and dinner at the same time. Of course, Mom still makes the apple pie, and the Christmas cookies, which were also delicious.
So, after months of almost no movie watching, which is highly unusual for me, I have finally made it to see a movie in the theatres. And, just for good measure, I went to see it twice. Well, the second time we went to see it on an 'Imax' screen, with fancy 'THX' sound, but I think it was about the same all in all. But, I liked it well enough. I have not read the books, and so am not in a possition to judge from a purist adaptation point of view. But, from what I hear, the film makers have wisely dug into notes for the novels which were not used, and offered up more interesting roles for the already sparce female characters. If there is one thing that continues to bother me about these movies it is the complete absence, or near absence, of female characters. Even the trees are male! At least C. S. Lewis made some of the trees female, what was wrong with Tolkien? But, to his credit, I loved the environmental theme to the story. I really wish that trees could uproot and fight, and that the power of water and wind could be unleashed on those who would pent it up for exploitation by industry. I once heard a piece of an interview with Cate Blanchet about the film, in which she was talking about the ring as a symbol of the machine, and would humankind really have the strength to destroy something so powerful, but so destructive which it had created? I like to hope that it might still be possible, but only history will tell. In that battle at least, these stories certainly take their place.