The Downs on film in Soviet FotR

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Pervinca Took

P.S. Something that really puzzled me was why Aragorn was working Merry or Pippin's arms back and forth in Moria. Did he get knocked out and I didn't notice? And is this an effective way of bringing someone round?

Moving arms across the chest is something I've seen in movies they do when they save a drowning person. I suppose the idea is that by squeezing and expanding the chest, it helps expel the water and does a sort of artificial respiration. I've never seen this in real practice so not sure how legit it is, for either drowning or other forms of CPR. In practice, I would think the regular chest compressions would be a more practical way of resuscitating if you are on the scene alone and don't have a buddy to help you move the limbs out to the full range. Is Aragorn's CPR effective? No. Because he barely compresses the chest, bending the arms at the elbows more than at the shoulders, and because artificial respiration is simply unnecessary for a person who is breathing fine on their own.