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The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
NEW ZEALAND · 2003

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Peter Jackson
good vs evil heroic journey loyalty and friendship power and corruption fate and destiny
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Synopsis

As armies mass for a final battle that will decide the fate of the world--and powerful, ancient forces of Light and Dark compete to determine the outcome--one member of the Fellowship of the Ring is revealed as the noble heir to the throne of the Kings of Men. Yet, the sole hope for triumph over evil lies with a brave hobbit, Frodo, who, accompanied by his loyal friend Sam and the hideous, wretche

Cinema Atlas Connection
Peter Jackson studied Kurosawa's Seven Samurai to understand how to shoot desperate, ragged warfare — the kind where mud and exhaustion matter as much as choreography. The Battle of Pelennor Fields learned from Kurosawa's understanding that beauty and brutality can exist in the same frame. Jackson documents this explicitly in the Appendices of the extended edition. Seven Samurai taught him that epic action requires humans who get tired, who hesitate, who fail. The film is streaming on Criterion Channel.
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