The
William and I have recently re-watched a couple of films. The first
was The Way, an adaptation of Jack Hitt's book about walking the
Camino de Santiago, something we would love to do, although nights in
dormitories don't much appeal! It's a very good film, with the themes
not only of what pilgrimage can mean these days, but also of loss,
grief, and resolution. I think I got more from it this second time
around, and I do recommend it.
However,
I don't recommend the other film we watched, or rather three films
telling one story: The Hobbit. Read the book instead!
But
it was interesting (to me anyway!) that during the scene of Thorin
barricading himself and his small group of followers inside the
mountain, after the destruction of Lake Town and with lines of
refugees heading his way for aid, what was uppermost in my mind was a
post-Brexit Britain, closing its doors to outsiders. Literally
outsiders. Ordinary people in need, good and bad, hard workers and
slackers, of different nationalities, faiths, colours, cultures... I
saw in my mind's eye the lines of people heading for the
Mediterranean, piling into tiny overcrowded boats, and as like as not
drowning; more lines of more people walking across Europe, to be
turned away or caged inside camps within sight of their goal.
In
the film, my sympathy is with Bilbo, absailing down the rocks to get
to the Men and Elves, who, not entirely surprisingly, are
anticipating armed struggles. Bilbo hopes to broker a deal between
the various parties with the prized Arkenstone as the lure. The
Arkenstone was one of the three Silmarils, in whose hearts burned the
light of Valinor; but those who desired to possess them became
tainted by arrogance and the lust for power.
Call
them High Fantasy or fairy tales, un-Disneyfied ones rarely end
happily, and I fear we're living in the reality of one now. Or am I
just being pessimistic? (But where's Bilbo when you need him?)
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