Perhaps Finnish film director Dome Karukoski took on an impossible task with his biopic Tolkien. When J. R. R. Tolkien began writing The Lord of the Rings, he hoped to give England something he thought it lacked: an epic and transcendent tale of its mythic origins. "I was from early days grieved by the poverty of my own beloved country," Tolkien explained. "It had no stories of its own (bound up with its tongue and soil), not of the quality that I sought." The astonishing appeal of the work — it has sold more than 150 million copies and been translated into dozens of languages — suggests that Tolkien has come closer to achieving that goal than any other author.
And therein lies the challenge: to produce a film about imagination. In Tolkien's case, this requires much more than biographical knowledge. Screenwriters David Gleeson and Stephen Beresford recreate some beautiful and authentic moments, especially in exploring Tolkien's passion for languages. The relationship between Tolkien and Edith, the love of his life, is told with tenderness and reserve. Tolkien's combat experience in the First World War — the plot is revealed through a series of flashbacks from the trenches in France — is a key ingredient in the story. Ultimately, however, the film fails to tap the deepest sources — both human and divine — of Tolkien's restless, creative genius.
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