Death portrayal

[alatar]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

I gained two different feelings from the portrayal of the Rohirrim charge, firstly that they were acting out of desperation, and secondly that their shouts of 'Death!' were intended to intimidate the enemy. That was a favourite part of the films for me, as it was breathtaking, as Anguirel says, but it also conjoured up a lot of strange emotions! I was impressed and stirred by their bravery, but also moved by their desperation. This was one moment where the 'gift of death' was portrayed ambiguously, but on the whole, I think death was portrayed as not being a gift. Of course, in the books, there are also a lot of mortals who do not consider death to be a gift so the whole issue was possibly too complex to successfully place in the medium of film.

Having watched the scene a few times, I am continually stirred emotionally. Surely the Rohirrim wanted to intimidate the enemy with their shouting, but I felt more of the desperation as stated by Lalwendë. Theoden's speech, Eowyn's words (and facial expressions) to Merry along with the 'mood' music lend to this feeling.

That said, when Theoden faces the mumakil and the Fell Beast, his facial expression is more like "what now?!? Can't you see I'm busy here?" than "oh my gosh!"