Dumbing it down

[Aiwendil]

Davem:
I agree with nearly all of what you say. I therefore hesitate to pick upon a minor point, especially one that's tangential to the topic, but I can't help myself. You say:

My own feeling is that Faramir's decision to release Frodo was based as much as anything on compassion, pity & mercy.

I don't doubt that Faramir (book Faramir, anyway) felt compassion and pity for Frodo, but I can't see that this was the reason for his decision. My impression has always been, rather, that Faramir understood, far better than Boromir, the reality of the situation. Regardless of how he felt toward Frodo, he knew that to bring the Ring to Minas Tirith would result in disaster; he knew that in Frodo's errand lay the only real hope.

So I don't think that Jackson's change can be explained simply as a result of Jackson's failure to understand the elements of compassion and mercy in the book. Even failing to understand those aspects, he could still have had Faramir act rationally. But for the sake of that constant tension with which he is obsessed, he felt it necessary to alter the character's perfectly reasonable behavior.

[Boromir88]

I don't doubt that Faramir (book Faramir, anyway) felt compassion and pity for Frodo, but I can't see that this was the reason for his decision. My impression has always been, rather, that Faramir understood, far better than Boromir, the reality of the situation. Regardless of how he felt toward Frodo, he knew that to bring the Ring to Minas Tirith would result in disaster; he knew that in Frodo's errand lay the only real hope.

There are a number of reasons I think behind Faramir's decision. Probably the compassion, he cared more about lore than Boromir, Numenorean blood was "purer" in him, he knew it would end in disaster, but another thing that I've always thought (and grant it it is a weak connection), but the biggest reason (I believe) Faramir let Frodo go was....he learned from Boromir's mistake. In the appendices, the Stewards:

It did not seem possible to Faramir that any one in Gondor could rival Boromir, heir of Denethor, Captain of the White Tower; and of like mind was Boromir.

To Faramir, he thought nobody in Gondor could match his brother, he thought that Boromir was the best in Gondor. Recognizing that Boromir died, because he tried to take the ring, and was "swayed by it," I think Faramir thought, "hey if Boromir, the best in Gondor, fell because of the Ring, I won't be any match for it." So, in essense he learned from his brother's mistake, which I take as a big contributing factor to why Faramir so easily let Frodo go.