Film review: 'Blood Diamond' (2006)

This analysis of ‘Blood Diamond’ (2006) will consider how the screenplay’s five plot points create the story’s deep structure. These discrete story points include the 'Inciting Incident' in Act 1, 'Turning Points 1 and 2' in Act 2, and the 'Crisis Decision' and 'Climax' in Act 3. Spoiler alert: this structural analysis will reveal crucial plot moments; you may prefer to read this after viewing the film.

This movie’s back story is as follows: during a time of civil war in 1990’s Sierra Leone, Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou), a Mende fisherman, finds a rare diamond while working in a diamond mine, and buries it, hoping to reclaim it later.

Any Hollywood movie’s 'Inciting Incident', which occurs usually in the first 1/2 hour, challenges the hero to respond to a new development or opportunity. To achieve that response, the hero must internally expand, irrevocably changing his life. The hero is then thrown into a series of escalating accommodations on his journey to understand and solve the Inciting Incident’s original problem. This film’s Inciting Incident occurs when Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio) is imprisoned for smuggling, and there meets Vandy. He hears talk in the prison of the diamond.

Turning Point 1. After the two are released, Archer pursues Vandy, and proposes a deal: that with his military skills he’ll escort the fisherman back through hostile country to the mine to regain the diamond. They could then split the proceeds, which would give each of them a much better life.

A movie’s Midpoint usually provides the story with a coherence and symmetry that the audience feels unconsciously, and for this reason is important structurally. This movie’s Midpoint sees Archer confessing his checkered life to a journalist he met in a bar, Maddy Bower (Jennifer Connolly). He also reveals the atrocities committed against his family (torture and murder) by native Marxist rebels fighting against the (pre-Independence) white Rhodesian government. This explains much of his illiberal attitude to black African national independence movements.

Turning Point 2. The former Rhodesian mercenaries who have been active in the Sierra Leone civil war, try to kill Archer, but he kills 3 of them in a shoot-out. The mercenary captain (David Harewood), an old friend he had fought with in many battles, tries to trick him and take him out, but Archer anticipates it and kills the captain. However, Archer is seriously wounded.

Act 3’s Crisis Decision occurs when Archer sends Vandy ahead to the waiting helicopter at the hilltop; they are still being pursued by the Sierra Leone forces. He secretly drops the blood diamond in Vandy’s backpack. Vandy looks back and realizes that the injured Archer can’t continue, and intends to hold off the pursuing troops. He is torn, but realizes he must carry on for his family’s and people’s sake.

The Climax occurs sees Archer phone Maddy, the journalist, and ask if she can get Vandy a lawyer, to help him fight for his people. He mentions that Vandy has the diamond, which could be used to finance his struggle. She can hear that he’s injured, and he admits that he feels he is now receiving what a man such as he deserves. Maddy is devastated as he says goodbye. He dies on the hillside moments later, before the Sierra Leone troops arrive.

The story’s reversal (to a new stasis) sees Archer come to terms with the demons that have driven him since his family’s murder. It also sees Vandy become a spokesman for justice and democratic social renewal. After knowing Archer he better understands the complexity of Africa’s colonial history, with injustices being inflicted on both sides. The closing scene shows him standing to make a speech in a packed assembly hall.

Given the breathtaking arrogance of the political correctness that has swept into social and cultural discourse in recent years, it has become all but impossible for Western filmmakers to accurately portray black African social reality, or indeed native American social reality. The myths of the innocent, helpless 'native', perennially wronged, means the narrative has only one direction it can take. This film wanted to repudiate those tiresome, patently false 'tropes', but largely it failed.

We should note that the white protagonist is still portrayed as participating in the destruction of an assumed 'native paradise', though his own specific history is to be understood as mitigating. But the central myth of the innocent wronged native in an innocent, pure state of nature remains 100% intact. It is precisely such myths that make it possible for Africa’s many blood-drenched Marxist leaders to misgovern and strip away their nations’ wealth, while rejecting any criticism as collusion with forces of foreign imperialist interference.

Film review: 'Seraphim Falls' (2007)

This analysis of 'Seraphim Falls' (2007) will consider how the screenplay’s five plot points create the story’s deep structure. These discrete story points include the 'Inciting Incident' in Act 1, 'Turning Points 1 and 2' in Act 2, and the 'Crisis Decision' and 'Climax' in Act 3. Spoiler alert: this structural analysis will reveal crucial plot moments; you may prefer to read this after viewing the film.

This movie’s back story is as follows: 3 years earlier, not long after the end of the US Civil War, Major Gideon’s (Pierce Brosnan) Union cavalry unit was still seeking Confederate officers to stand trial. They came to the home of former Confederate Colonel Carver (Liam Neeson), and Gideon orders his men to search and empty the house. One of the soldiers sets fire to all the plantation's buildings, which Gideon allows, believing the house to be empty. Carver’s wife and infant son, however, are still up in the upper nursery, and they die in the fire. Carver swears vengeance against Gideon.

Any Hollywood movie’s ‘Inciting Incident’, which occurs usually in the first 1/2 hour, challenges the hero to respond to a new development or opportunity. To achieve that response, the hero must internally expand, irrevocably changing his life. The hero is then thrown into a series of escalating accommodations on his journey to understand and solve the Inciting Incident’s original problem.

This movie’s Inciting Incident occurs when Carver is pursuing Gideon through a winter forest, 3 years later. Carver shoots and wounds Gideon, who is forced to run. He escapes by crossing a freezing river. He later excruciatingly digs out the bullet and staunches the wound with a fire-heated tool.

Turning Point 1. Gideon arrives at a homestead where he stays overnight. He buys a horse from the homesteader, but the man’s son steals Gideon’s purse of gold. We see Gideon’s honor, his principles, that he's a good man. He tries to give the homesteader’s son advice.

A movie’s Midpoint usually provides the story with a coherence and symmetry that the audience feels unconsciously, and for this reason is important structurally. This film’s Midpoint sees Gideon arrive at a waterhole in the desert, watched over by an old Indian shaman, who demands Gideon’s horse as payment for using the waterhole. Gideon obliges the man. Later, Carver comes to the same hole, the same shaman is there. The shaman gives the horse to Carver, along with some native wisdom. Presumably this symbolizes restoring cosmic balance by taking from one and giving to the other.

Turning Point 2. Gideon has killed 3 of Carver’s hired killers, who are helping him hunt down his enemy. Gideon is in the desert, horseless, being pursued. Hiding inside a dead horse’s carcass, he springs out and kills the last of Carver’s hired men. He challenges Carver to just let it go, to give it up. He takes Carver’s horse and rides off.

Act 3’s Crisis Decision occurs on the border of the badlands, where the heat of the sun beats down like an anvil. Gideon comes upon a traveling tonic seller in a wood-paneled wagon. Gideon decides it’s time to stop running, to make a stand against this man who won’t stop. He trades with the driver of the wagon, Mme. Louise (Angelica Huston), the horse for a single bullet.

The Climax is the confrontation between the two men. Gideon’s resourcefulness and talent with a gun and bowie knife have stood him in good stead. However, up to now he has resisted killing Carver, out of guilt over his part in what happened to the man's family. The fight goes back and forth. Gideon gains the upper hand, but then turns the gun on himself and wraps Carver’s hand on the pistol's grip. He tells him to go ahead, and have done with it. Carver can’t do it, and breaks down, weeping. The two stand up, stagger, and walk together a ways, supporting each other. Then they part and slowly go off in separate directions.

The story’s reversal (to a new stasis) sees both men survive, with Carver having purged his hate and desire for revenge, and Gideon having perhaps purged his guilt, and atoned for the horrific act of violence that occurred under his command.

Film review: 'National Treasure' (2004)

This analysis of 'National Treasure' (2004) will consider how the screenplay’s five plot points create the story’s deep structure. These discrete story points include the 'Inciting Incident' in Act 1, 'Turning Points 1 and 2' in Act 2, and the 'Crisis Decision' and 'Climax' in Act 3. Spoiler alert: this structural analysis will reveal crucial plot moments; you may prefer to read this after viewing the film.

This movie’s back story is as follows: as a child Ben Gates (Nicholas Cage), with his father and grandfather, the latter passed on to Ben the torch of the treasure search, a calling he has followed ever since. A series of clues led Ben to the Arctic, where he is just finishing the last leg of his most recent search. His arch-rival, Ian Howe (Sean Bean), another treasure hunter (who believes ethics are for wimps), is there before him. Howe cryptically reveals that he has an even bigger ‘treasure catch’ in the works.

Back in Washington, he and a friend go to the Smithsonian Institution, a first for Ben. It suddenly clicks for Ben when he sees the Declaration of Independence, a document on display in the museum, that Howe intends to steal that document. They get in to meet with the museum’s Director, Abigail Chase (Diane Kruge), who doesn’t believe their story that the US Declaration of Independence is in serious jeopardy. Alas Ben cannot divulge the evidence without implicating himself. She concludes they are ‘treasure hunters’, which she deduces from their quirky, bizarre behavior. Ben replies that no, they are actually more 'treasure protectors', a distinction of which his grandfather would have wholly approved.

Any Hollywood movie’s 'Inciting Incident', which occurs usually in the first 1/2 hour, challenges the hero to respond to a new development or opportunity. To achieve that response, the hero must internally expand, irrevocably changing his life. The hero is then thrown into a series of escalating accommodations on his journey to understand and solve the Inciting Incident’s original problem.

This movie’s Inciting Incident occurs when Ben concludes, in a brilliant insight, that they will need to ‘steal’ the Declaration of Independence in order to 'protect' it. This is exactly what he proceeds to do, using a clever series of stratagems to gain entry, remove, and replace the document, and get away. Director Chase seems to understand how Ben thinks, and quickly working out what’s happening, is able to follow and catch up with them.

Turning Point 1. Ben decides he needs to trust Chase, and lets her stay with them, as they abscond with the rolled-up Declaration of Independence.

A movie’s Midpoint usually provides the story with a coherence and symmetry that the audience feels unconsciously, and for this reason is important structurally. This film’s Midpoint sees the group arrive at Ben’s father’s home, who initially will give no help to what he sees as yet another instance of Ben throwing away his life on ‘treasure’. He removes the document from the tube that Ben has stored it in, and is appalled, and castigates his son. He idly dusts off one corner on the reverse side, and sees a corner of - a map. A map that gives the location of - what else? - a treasure. The father comes round despite himself, and grudgingly agrees to help. The chase is on.

Turning Point 2. Howe and his henchmen have been pursuing Ben and his team. Ben says they must split up, and gives the document in its tube to Director Chase. He has come to trust her.

Act 3’s Crisis Decision is when Ben’s team of four have reached an apparent dead end in the sub-basement beneath the city’s old jail. Ben has serious self-doubt, and concedes that all these years his father has been right. He is about to give up the quest, and all future treasure quests. The father pauses, and then very gently says ‘no’, that he feels a great pride in the fact that Ben has never, in all these years, lost faith. He admits that, due to this, he has learned something truly valuable from his son. Ben’s spasm of self-doubt is banished, and he figures out how to get past the dead-end.

The Climax sees the four get into the vault, where a huge treasure awaits.

In the film’s 'Slow Curtain' Voiceover, Ben admits he gave up all the treasure to museums around the country. He turns to his sidekick and says, grinning as he holds Abigail, “But I got the girl!” The sidekick gives him a deadpan look, then walks over to his fire engine-red Lamborghini, the ultimate babe-magnet, and smiles smugly as he drives off.

The story’s reversal (to a new stasis) sees Ben living a slightly more normal life with Abigail Chase at his side, yet with his dreams of treasure intact, the value of which are now acknowledged by his father. And this realization has peeled away the father’s pedantic, solemn mask, which he had adopted in reaction to his own father’s preoccupation with treasure.

Film review: 'Sahara' (2005)

This analysis of 'Sahara' (2005) will consider how the screenplay’s five plot points create the story’s deep structure. These discrete story points include the 'Inciting Incident' in Act 1, 'Turning Points 1 and 2' in Act 2, and the 'Crisis Decision' and 'Climax' in Act 3. Spoiler alert: this structural analysis will reveal crucial plot moments; you may prefer to read this after viewing the film.

This movie’s opening action is as follows: Dirk Pitt (Matthew McConaughey), of the scientific research ship, NUMA, is collecting samples from a skiff off the coast of Lagos, Nigeria, when he sees a woman, Eva Rojas (Penelope Cruz), being assaulted on the shore. He swims ashore and uses Navy Seals martial arts to swiftly subdue the three attackers. Rojas, a field doctor with the UN’s World Health Organization, was examining victims of an apparent deadly plague coming downriver from Mali. Pitt manages to secure the use of NUMA leader, Colonel James Sandecker’s (William H. Macy) launch to investigate the possible wreck of a US Civil War ironclad along the Niger River, and its cargo of Confederate gold coins. Rojas and her WHO boss arranged with the Colonel to hitch a ride with Pitt upriver to the Mali border, where they hope to isolate the origins of the plague.

Any Hollywood movie’s 'Inciting Incident', which occurs usually in the first 1/2 hour, challenges the hero to respond to a new development or opportunity. To achieve that response, the hero must internally expand, irrevocably changing his life. The hero is then thrown into a series of escalating accommodations on his journey to understand and solve the Inciting Incident’s original problem. This movie’s Inciting Incident occurs after Pitt and his partner-in-arms, Al Giordino (Steve Zahn), drop off the 2 WHO doctors, and are stopped by several of Colonel Kazim’s (Lennie James) patrol boats. Pitt and Giordino escape from a sustained attack by 4 boats and several machine gun-equipped jeeps onshore. Pitt realizes the attack was meant to stop the 2 doctors, and he decides their priority now is to warn the doctors. He sends Rudi back to apprise the Colonel of events.

Turning Point 1. One of Kazim’s platoons swoops down on Rojas and her boss doing tests at a village in the Mali countryside, where most of the villagers have died from the ‘plague’. Kazim arrives by helicopter gunship, questions her boss, executes him, and orders his troops to find Rojas. Pitt and Giordino, who witnessed the murder from a nearby building roof, come down, and kill the soldiers looking for Rojas. The three escape in one of their jeeps. Pitt and Giordino are now committed to helping Rojas.

A movie’s Midpoint usually provides the story with a coherence and symmetry that the audience feels unconsciously, and for this reason is important structurally. This film’s Midpoint sees Pitt explaining to the rebel Tuareg leader (Daniel Lobe), whose men had stopped the three while traveling through a hilly area, that the water in the village wells has been poisoned by Kazim’s partner, a French company run by Massadre (Lambert Wilson). Pitt asks the Tuareg leader for help in stopping Kazim. The Tuareg refuses, that his priority is taking care of his people.

Turning Point 2. Pitt, Giordino, and Rojas set off on their own, enter the French company’s desert facility, and discover that it’s a nuclear waste disposal facility disguised as a solar power generating plant. The toxic waste has been entering the region’s water table and is causing the deaths, by poisoning. Pitt tells the other two it’s time to call in the cavalry to deal with this, when the company CEO, Massadre, apprehends them in the rail car they’re hiding in, and taken prisoner.

Act 3’s Crisis Decision. After Pitt and Giordino escape, using a series of ruses with their captors while being transported to Kazim’s HQ, they return again to the Tuareg leader, ask again for help, though he again refuses; he does allow them to take a vintage 1912 touring car his forces had captured from Kazim. Their decision is to risk all and gain entry to Massadre’s facility to stop any more of the poisonous waste from entering the water table.

The Climax sees them gain entry by posing as Kazim entering in his own vehicle. They discover Massadre’s intention to blow up the facility and thus disguise its real, illegal purpose. Pitt gets to the roof and rescues Rojas from being spirited away in Massadre’s helicopter, while Giordino gets the bomb Massadre had planted.

Climax 2 sees them pursued by Kazim in his helicopter gunship through the desert. The dynamite they throw behind them to cover their location in the swirling sand, causes a small landslide of sand to fall away from a buried US Civil War 'ironclad'. They make their last stand from inside the wreck, firing a cannon at the helicopter and destroying it. Crates of Confederate coins had spilled out during Kazim’s missile attacks. Once Kazim is down, his army mysteriously surrenders. Pitt, Giordino, and Rojas emerge from the ironclad to discover that the Tuareg have come after all, and line the ridges all round Kazim’s trapped military.

Slow Curtain, and reversal (to a new stasis). The NUMA outfit is compensated by the US government for their losses, and given a sweetheart deal for future operations. Massadre, in a swanky Paris restaurant, receives a glass tumbler full of the very water he caused villagers in Mali to be poisoned with, delivered by a CIA operative and friend of the Colonel’s. Pitt and Rojas are swimming in a secluded cove, with Kazim’s car parked not far from where they’re lying. They run into the water, laughing, carefree.

Film review: 'Kill Bill Vol 2' (2004)

This analysis of 'Kill Bill: Vol. 2' (2004) will consider how the screenplay’s five plot points create the story’s deep structure. These discrete story points include the 'Inciting Incident' in Act 1, 'Turning Points 1 and 2' in Act 2, and the 'Crisis Decision' and 'Climax' in Act 3. Spoiler alert: this structural analysis will reveal crucial plot moments; you may prefer to read this after viewing the film.

This movie’s back story is, of course, 'Kill Bill Vol .1', which saw Beatrix Kiddo (Uma Thurman) go on a full-bore royal rampage of revenge. But she has yet to kill old Bill.

Any Hollywood movie’s ‘Inciting Incident’, which occurs usually in the first 1/2 hour, challenges the hero to respond to a new development or opportunity. To achieve that response, the hero must internally expand, irrevocably changing his life. The hero is then thrown into a series of escalating accommodations on his journey to understand and solve the Inciting Incident’s original problem. This movie’s Inciting Incident sees Bill show up unexpectedly on the happy occasion of Kiddo’s wedding rehearsal. He is welcomed by the groom, and is to be the sole guest from the bride’s family present at the ceremony.

A few moments after his arrival, Budd (Michael Madsen), Elle (Darryl Hannah) and two other assassins arrive. What followed has since become notorious as the massacre at the El Paso Wedding Chapel.

Kiddo escapes from the early grave Budd had cheerfully consigned her to. She then makes her way back to Budd’s trailer. Inside Elle has unleashed the Great Mamba, one of Africa’s three most lethal predators, on poor unsuspecting Budd.

Turning Point 1. When Elle tries to leave, Kiddo comes roaring in. Elle reveals that she killed Kiddo’s revered master, using a cowardly poison, and in the fight that follows, Kiddo impales and swipes out Elle’s one remaining eye with her index and middle finger, blinding her. Kiddo leaves Elle howling in the trailer, trapped there to receive the attentions of the Great Mamba.

A movie’s Midpoint usually provides the story with a coherence and symmetry that the audience feels unconsciously, and for this reason is important structurally. This film’s Midpoint sees Kiddo arrive at Esteban Vihaio’s (Michael Parks) compound over the border. Their conversation suggests his establishment is a hellish desert brothel. She finds out where Bill is now living.

Turning Point 2. After arriving at Bill’s ranch, to her initial shock and overwhelming relief, Kiddo discovers that her daughter is still alive, playing there in Bill’s living room.

Act 3’s Crisis Decision occurs after much additional repartee between the two. Not only has Bill taken from her everything and everyone she loved, he even withheld the knowledge of her daughter’s welfare. Her decision: Bill must die.

The Climax occurs when she kills Bill, using her master’s secret ‘Five-point palm of death’ maneuver. Bill, who had wanted to learn this maneuver, will now see it work firsthand. He rises and arranges his suit, walks away, and dies before taking his fifth step, when his heart collapses. Such is the efficacy of the 5-point palm of death.

The story’s reversal (to a new stasis) sees Kiddo in a motel room with her daughter, her royal rampage of revenge now finished, her four enemies vanquished. She lies curled in a foetal position on the bathroom floor, weeping. Her daughter is watching a cartoon. Kiddo comes out, her spasm of soul anguish behind her.

As Bill insisted earlier, she is indeed a killer. But she’s also a mother.

Film analysis: 'LOTR: The Return of the King' (2003)

This analysis of 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King' (2003) will consider how the screenplay's five plot points create the story's deep structure. These discrete story points include the 'Inciting Incident' in Act 1, 'Turning Points 1 and 2' in Act 2, and the 'Crisis Decision' and 'Climax' in Act 3. Spoiler alert: this structural analysis will reveal crucial plot moments; you may prefer to read this after viewing the film. For actors' names I refer you to the analysis of 'The Fellowship of the Ring'.

This movie's back story is a follow-on from the events of Books 1 and 2. Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli, having set out from Helm's Deep, arrive on horseback at the ruins of Isengard, where they find Merry and Pippin savoring a day of rest after accompanying the Ents in their siege of Saruman's stronghold.

In this movie two plot-lines see each of the five plot points mentioned above. The two plot-lines are Frodo/Sam and the alliance forces that gather at Minas Tirith.

The Inciting Incident in the Frodo/Sam plot-line occurs when Smeagol (Gollum) speaks to his vicious alter-ego in his reflection in the pond, who divulges his plan to let the spider in the cave near Mordor kill the hobbits, so he can get back his 'precious', the ring. The Inciting Incident in the Minas Tirith plot-line sees Pippin use the 'palantia' to see Mordor, which also enables Sauron to see him'. Gandalf rescues him at the last second and questions Pippin, who had seen Mordor's forces gathering near Minas Tirith. Gandalf says they must warn Minas Tirith, and he sends Aragorn to gather other human forces to join in that city's defense. Thus is the action of this third part of the story unleashed.

Turning Point 1. Frodo/Sam plot-line: Frodo, Sam and Gollum have arrived at the long stairs cut into the side of the sheer cliff-face leading up to the plateau that surrounds Mount Doom at the center of Mordor. The stairs are also adjacent to the large portcullis leading to Minas Morgul, where Sauron's forces have been gathered. Frodo wants to enter by that route to get directly to Mount Doom, so strong is the quest in his mind. Sam and Gollum pull him away from certain death, and bring him to the stairs, which the begin to climb. Minas Tirith plotline: Gandalf is with Pippin at a stronghold on the frontier, and assigns the hobbit the task of stealing up behind the guards to light the signal fire there. Pippin succeeds, and the signal will now eventually be visible to Rohan, asking them to come to assist in Minas Tirith's defense.

A movie's Midpoint usually provides the story with a coherence and symmetry that the audience feels unconsciously, and for this reason is important structurally. Frodo/Sam plotline: Gollum steals lembas bread from Sam's pack and throws it away, to incite Sam to speak against him, which he hopes will divide Sam from Frodo. It works as predicted, and Frodo asks Sam to stay behind. Sam is devastated by this final rupture in their friendship. Minas Tirith plot-line: the weak and cowardly king at Minas Tirith, Denethor (John Noble), sends his dutiful son, Faramir (David Wenham), back to certain death to defend Osgiliath.

Turning Point 2. Frodo/Sam plot-line: Frodo is too weakened by the climb to fight the spider in the cave. Despairing, he runs from the spider and hides. Galadriel speaks to him from Lothlorien, in a vision. She repeats her earlier injunction: "This task has been appointed to you, Frodo of the Shire. If you do not fulfill it, no one will." Frodo sees his duty, knows his oath, and turns back to face the spider. He falls, and the enormous spider spins a cocoon round the hobbit, and leaves him in the cave. Minas Tirith plot-line: the siege of Minas Tirith is fully under way, with Orc/Urukhai forces pouring across the defenses. Gandalf and Pippin catch a moment together behind a locked door, and Pippin asks Gandalf of what follows death. Gandalf speaks of the 'white city of joy', and describes it. Pippin is greatly cheered, and replies, "Well, that's not so bad, is it?" Gandalf smiles, and agrees.

Act 3's Crisis Decision. Frodo/Sam plot-line: Sam followed Frodo, after Frodo was carried away by Orcs and taken to their lookout post near Mount Doom. He and Frodo battle their way out of the post, and are now crossing the last smoking, sulfurous marshland surrounding Mount Doom. Frodo is sincerely grateful for Sam's loyalty, and comments that there'll be no lembas for their return journey. Sam replies, half-smiling, "I don't think there'll be a return journey, Master Frodo." They both have come to accept that the quest will kill them, but know they must see it through to the finish. There truly is no turning back. Minas Tirith plot-line: Gandalf despairs as he sees Minas Tirith's imminent fall, and says: "I sent Frodo to his death, for nothing." Aragorn replies that what they need, hoping against hope, and to give Frodo the extra time to destroy the ring, is a diversion.

Act 3's Climax. Frodo/Sam plot-line: Frodo is fully seduced by the odious power of the one ring, and standing on the lip of the abyss within Mount Doom, he claims it for himself, as had Isildur so many years before. Gollum sees Frodo's lust to possess the 'precious', and have for himself the ring's power, and rushes him. Frodo slips the ring on his finger, turns invisible, and they struggle, oblivious to the edge of the abyss just inches away. Gollum bites off Frodo's finger and slips the ring on his own finger, and capers at the edge, slips, and falls into the abyss. Frodo reaches after him, horrified at the loss of the ring, and nearly falls himself, hanging by one hand to the edge. The ring dissolves in the fiery lava of the pit, and as the sound of Sauron's shrieks rend the sky, Sam comes to the edge and hauls Frodo to safety. Minas Tirith plot-line: everyone believes the quest has failed, and that the ring-bearer and his friend are dead. As a last defiant gesture against utter tyranny Aragorn surges out in front of the alliance army of the city's defenders, among Rohirrim, elves, dwarfs, and hobbits, and turns back, holding his sword into the sky before the Orc onslaught, and shouts: "For Frodo!" and the good Aragorn charges forward. As the alliance forces hurtle forward after him, the sound of Sauron's shriek reaches a new height, as the certain knowledge instantly reaches him that the one ring has been destroyed.

The Orc and Urukhai forces' strength which comes from Sauron's dark arts is suddenly rent, and the Dark Lord's forces begin imploding and shrinking in on themselves, and falling into gaping holes that open up in the earth around the formerly-surrounded, shrunken cell of alliance forces. Sauron's army disintegrates as it falls to its doom, even as they turn and try to flee.

This third movie in the series has an extensive Slow Curtain sequence, as follows: Frodo and Sam are rescued from the overflowing river of lava around Mount Doom following the destruction of the ring; Frodo awakes to a joyous reunion with the surviving members of the Fellowship; the hobbits are honored at Aragorn's marriage to Arwen (Liv Tyler); the hobbits return to the Shire; Frodo surprises the other hobbits with his decision to accompany the Elves to their ancestral home, in a different world from this; and Sam settles down to a long life of domestic peace with his new wife in the Shire.

The world of Middle Earth is again at peace, at long last.

It is difficult not to see the 3-part narrative arc of 'The Lord of the Rings' as an allegory on the modern world's struggle with radical Islamists and those who collude with them, the radical Left. The reluctance of the residents of the Shire to get involved in the gathering storm of evil facing Middle Earth, almost until it's too late, resonates with the reluctance of democratic states to confront the gathering storm of evil in our own world. Sauron's demented lust for power was concealed by an ideology that professed to be bringing peace to Middle Earth through the power of the one 'ring'. We face similar delusions - that the Islamists can be talked out of their seemingly implausible goal of global dominion. Meanwhile the 'Wormtongues' of the Left do everything in their power to subvert our willingness and capacity to resist, or even to recognize that any struggle exists against which resistance is required.

Art, especially literary art, almost always has an allegorical element. 'The Lord of the Rings' series was certainly no exception.

Film analysis: 'LOTR: The Two Towers' (2002)

This analysis of 'The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers' (2002) will consider how the screenplay's five plot points create the story's deep structure. These discrete story points include the 'Inciting Incident' in Act 1, 'Turning Points 1 and 2' in Act 2, and the 'Crisis Decision' and 'Climax' in Act 3. Spoiler alert: this structural analysis will reveal crucial plot moments; you may prefer to read this after viewing the film. For actors' names I refer you to the analysis of 'The Fellowship of the Ring'.

This movie's back story is a follow-on from 'The Fellowship of the Ring'. There are two primary plot-lines in 'The Two Towers': 1) Frodo and Sam, and 2) the Aragorn/ Legolas/Gimli plot-line. Five story plot points, as mentioned above, appear in each plot-line, and will be outlined in this analysis.

Inciting Incident. Drawn from the events of Book 1. The abduction of Merry and Pippin by Sauron's forces (in the belief that one of them is the Halfling ring-bearer), is the central Inciting Incident. Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli have taken up the pursuit in an attempt to rescue their two hobbit comrades. Meanwhile, a second Inciting Incident is Frodo and Sam's having struck off on their own to fulfill the Fellowship's quest: to reach Mordor and Mount Doom to destroy the ring.

Turning Point 1. The Frodo/Sam plotline: Frodo, Sam, and Gollum cross the marsh, where Gollum saves Frodo from the lights' given off by fallen warriors who are held in the marsh by the power of Mordor. Aragorn/Legolas/Gimli plot-line: Gandalf the White, having returned now to his friends after falling into the chasm and subduing the Balrog, now frees King Theoden (Bernard Hill) of Edoras from Saruman's sorcery.

A movie's Midpoint usually provides the story with a coherence and symmetry that the audience feels unconsciously, and for this reason is important structurally. The Frodo/Sam plot-line's Midpoint occurs when Frodo defends Gollum against Sam's baiting. Frodo sympathizes with Gollum's addiction to the ring, showing Frodo to be imperceptibly passing over from the Fellowship's cause to the ring's side. The A/L/G plot-line's Midpoint occurs when Aragorn falls while fighting the Orcs/Urukhai, and left for dead.

Turning Point 2. Frodo and Sam plot-line: Frodo turns Gollum over to Faramir (David Wenham), of Minas Tirith, to protect him from being shot with an arrow. The A/L/G plotline: Aragorn rides into Helm's Deep, where the inhabitants of Edoras have retreated to; a great welcoming and homecoming ensues.

The Frodo/Sam plot-line Crisis Decision/Climax sees Frodo confront the nazgul at Osgiliath, where he is injured and escapes only by putting on the ring. Sam speaks up in Frodo's defense to Faramir, who now understands, and is astounded by the horrific burden the two Halflings labor under. He honors their courage and sacrifice, and releases them. The A/L/G plotline Crisis Decision/Climax sees Theoden at Helm's Deep, despairing over the inexhaustible horde of Mordor's forces sent against them. He says bitterly, "How can any one defend against such reckless hate!" Aragorn sees the truth in this, yet will not yield, and says to Theoden: "Ride out with me!" (let us meet hate head on). Perhaps somewhat implausibly, at this juncture Gandalf the White arrives on a distant hillside, accompanied by the forces of the Rohirrim, and the tide of battle shifts.

A third plot-line woven into through this second Book was Merry and Pippin's escape from their Orc captors, and meeting with the Ents. The two hobbits had tried to convince the Entfolk to join in the attack on Isengard, yet the Ents only joined battle when they saw the horrific devastation Saruman had visited upon the forests surrounding his stronghold.

The story's primary reversal (to a new stasis) sees the friendship between Frodo and Sam restored, after Sam's defense of Frodo. Yet this also suggests that Frodo will again be drawn by the ring's power, and see a rupture in his friendship with Sam. The new stasis in human affairs sees Helm's Deep saved, and Saruman and Sauron's forces held off, in part because the alliance held, so that humans and elves, and the forces of Rohan and Edoras, each fought side by side. Yet this was also due to the luck of Gandalf's timely arrival at Helm's Deep, which the alliance won't have the benefit of in the final conflict.

Movie analysis: 'LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring' (2001)

This analysis of 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring' (2001), will consider how the screenplay's five plot points create the story's deep structure. These discrete story points include the 'Inciting Incident' in Act 1, 'Turning Points 1 and 2' in Act 2, and the 'Crisis Decision' and 'Climax' in Act 3. Spoiler alert: this structural analysis will reveal crucial plot moments; you may prefer to read this after viewing the film.

This movie was of course an adaptation of the well-known J.R.R. Tolkien classic of the same name. The film's back story is as follows: at the ancient struggle over the Elf-fashioned ring', the one ring that bound and held the power of the original nine rings, the human warrior chieftain, Isildur (Harry Sinclair), had won the ring. But alas, he had kept it instead of destroying it, thus breaking his sacred oath. This had begun the trail of destruction that was to follow in the wake of an object of such power. Much later the hobbit who would become Smeagol, or Gollum (Andy Serkis), would steal it, and kill to do so. Later still, the hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm) would find it, and keep it, just as Gollum had. Bilbo possessed it still, there in the Shire, a fact until now unknown to the dark forces at large in the world of Middle Earth.

In any Hollywood movie the 'Inciting Incident', occurring usually in the first 1/2 hour, challenges the hero to respond to a new development or opportunity. To achieve that response, the hero must internally expand, irrevocably changing his life. The hero is then thrown into a series of escalating accommodations on his journey to understand and solve the Inciting Incident's original problem. This film's Inciting Incident occurs when Bilbo Baggins reluctantly attends his birthday party. Unknown to anyone in the Shire, he has in fact, and perhaps unworthily, grown tired of his quiet, suffocating life there. He has secretly decided to leave the Shire, and does so in a most surprising way, by putting on the one 'ring'. This one act caused him to disappear to mortal eyes, but it also caused him to become visible to the non-mortal, non-human, single, malevolent eye of the dark Lord of Mordor Sauron (Sala Baker). The moment Bilbo slipped the ring on his finger, Sauron knew beyond all doubt that the ring still existed, he also knew the kind of creature who possessed it, and he knew approximately where it was. Bilbo had made a grievous error. The wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen), soon due to arrive in the Shire, would be appalled at Bilbo's action.

After Bilbo had been relieved of the ring by Gandalf, and had left on his trek to live among the Elves; and after the ring had passed to Bilbo's nephew, Frodo (Elijah Wood), Gandalf charged the same with the task of carrying it safely to Rivendell. Frodo set out on the journey, accompanied by three hobbit companions and their new protector, a human, Strider, the future Lord Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen).

Turning Point 1. The Council of Elrond (Hugo Weaving), an Elf Lord, has been called to decide what is to be done about the one ring, which all had believed was destroyed. They conclude that it must still be destroyed; and that the only way of doing so is to cast it into the fiery pit at Mount Doom. Several present at the Council step forward to carry out this task, but suspicions between dwarfs, elves, and humans make any choice all but impossible. Moreover, Gandalf reminds them of the ring's endless power to corrupt any who possess it. Into the clamor that follows Frodo sends his small voice, volunteering to be the one who will carry it. Gandalf sighs, deeply pained. He does not want to see the ring's odious power again taint his favorite folk in the world, the Halflings, or hobbits. Moreover, Frodo and Bilbo are his favorites among the hobbits. He sighs, and accedes. A vote is taken and it is decided: Frodo shall be the ring-bearer. Several step forward to rally round Frodo as his protectors in this quest, and form a Fellowship of this ring: a dwarf, Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) , an elf, Legolas (Orlando Bloom), two human