*TTT - Faramir (David Wenham)*

[Child of the 7th Age]

Well, here it is. This is the post that caused the technical shut down of the thread. Don't ask me how, because I don't know! I only know that after my edit, the entire thread messed up. Leave it to me!<P>My post had to be deleted to fix the thread. BW sent it back (thank you!) and suggested I cut and paste it.<P>So here it is again, and hopefully the post will behave a little better this time.<BR>***************************************** ****<P>I also do not like how PJ changed the character of Faramir. BW has a point, but I think that Sauron's inattention could have been explained in other ways than by taking a central character and misrepresenting him.<P>When Faramir declines to accept the Ring, he says one critical line to Frodo: <I>Not if I found it on the highway would I take it. </I> In my opinion, that sentence is the core of Faramir. And that core has been swept away. Nor do I feel that PJ's interpretation is an improvement even in strictly cinematic terms.<P>In the book, the heart of Faramir is his discussion with Frodo, which is spread out over three chapters. In those chapters, both the hobbit and the Man are represented as mature characters, standing firmly against the Shadow. The book Frodo shows a gentility, a courtesty, maturity, and intelligence which just aren't there in the movie Frodo, who is already dispirited and worn down by the Ring. Indeed, in the book, it is Frodo who guides and reprimands Sam for inadvertently spilling the beans to Faramir about the Ring.<P>There is no way that PJ could have had the dispirited movie Frodo converse with Faramir in the way the book suggests. It would have been totally out of character for him. In a sense, then, PJ's portrayal of Frodo as a victim of the Ring made it inevitable that there would have to be some kind of modification to Faramir, at least in terms of these chapters in TTT.