Tolkien

One of the frequent bones of contention with regard to many biopics is the viewer does not get a comprehensive picture of its subject. This is not the case with Tolkien, directed by Dome Karukoski and starring Nicholas Hoult, Lily Collins, and Colm Meaney.

Tolkien is a biography of the formative years of British fantasy author J.R.R. Tolkien, whose Middle Earth literary universe Lord of the Rings has proven so popular (and influential) in the 20th and 21st centuries. The approach is essentially chronological— from Tolkien’s humble origins as a poor orphan to his childhood in the bleak industrial environs of Birmingham, his university years at Oxford and then his service in the Royal Army in the First World War to his development as an author. Nicholas Hoult (Warm Bodies) vividly portrays the vulnerability and tenacity of a working-class youth in an “exclusive” environment as he forms enduring friendships with classmates and pursues academic interests focused on literature and language. First love naturally is also an influence—Lily Collins shines as Edith, the object of his devotion (perhaps his “princess” inspiration). His classmates also have artistic ambitions (discouraged by their parents, of course) and they provide support and feedback for each other along with sturdy bonds of friendship.

World War I had, perhaps unsurprisingly, a major impact upon his writing—the fantastic quests and battles of Tolkien’s characters, forged already in his youth (we see his mother reading him tales as a wee lad), were advanced and enriched by the hellish setting of war. Dome Karukoski presents chilling portraits of battle, matter-of-fact and unsentimental but with fantastic hints of fancy—a German soldier with a flame thrower can be seen as a modern variant of a firebreathing dragon; Tolkien the soldier making his quest through a virtual slaughterhouse to find a friend who’s part of the Army’s thrust through the No Man’s Land of yore. Judicious but vivid use of special effects provide visual parallels with the to-be-phantasmagorical battles of Middle Earth.

There are aspects of this biography that can be viewed as allegorical but not in a heavy-handed manner. Returning from the war and embracing married life, Tolkien goes into academia before channeling the sum total of his experiences into the fiction that would make him immortal.

There are some excellent supporting players: Colm Meany is typically and eloquently crusty and hardheaded as the priest who is young Tolkien’s legal guardian, and Derek Jacobi is a delight as the genial, slightly eccentric professor that shares and nurtures Tolkien’s passion for ancient languages. Hoult is excellent throughout, convincingly conveying vulnerability and stubbornness without ever going over-thetop or becoming quirky. He plays a young person that grows into this writer who achieved almost mythic status—we live with him as he becomes the Tolkien of yore. This film is long and leisurely paced but never dull, and ends as he embarks upon writing the stories that make him a legend. Tolkien makes you feel him as a person, not simply a historical figure.

Mark Keresman