Well, I found that scene to be exceptionally quite well designed; better than an illustration. I wasn't quite sure when it was day or night. It seemed like day was dawning when they saw the Nazgul, which I found a bit much. If he's swooping around so close to them and not so far up in the sky, it seems overly fortunate that they are not detected.<P>As for the flames, I think one interpretation of the "candles" is that while enchanted they are not really so different from the flaring of reqular swamp gas, which can emit be a prodigious source of methane. And, I think that that is the way that the natural phenomonom looks.<P>What I didn't like about Frodo's falling in is that the dead bodies appeared as threatening wraiths. I think many close readers of the book would say that even as the Dead Marshes are foul, bizarre and dangerous. The faces of the Men and Elves are nothing more than images. They are not supposed to be evil wraiths trapped in the pools. And while these images are very tragic and disburbing they are also in a way hallow.<P>So, this would be a purist's rant, except that I understand Mr. Jackson's need to veer toward the more salient and immediate interpretion and make it meaningful for the uninitiated moveigoer.
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The hoes unrecked in the fields were flung, __ and fallen ladders in the long grass lay __ of the lush orchards; every tree there turned __ its tangled head and eyed them secretly, __ and the ears listened of the nodding grasses; __ though noontide glowed on land and leaf, __ their limbs were chilled.
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