31 Movie Days: 06

Day 06 - Movie CryFest

As far as I know, I haven't cried during a movie. I've asked mom, and she said I haven't, and I don't ever recalling doing so. However, I am familiar with becoming emotionally invested to the point where I felt the familiar tinge in my chest that signals my deep reaction to what's happening onscreen. A good example of this would be GLADIATOR, where the final fight between Maximus and Joaquin Phoenix, and the subsequent shots of the afterlife, get me every time. Hell, even TITANIC touches me, specifically towards the finale with all the chaos and the death. But there's one movie the entire universe is familiar with, and it's a movie that no matter how many times I watch it, I still gets chills, and I'm *this* close to going overboard with. THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING, Peter Jackson's concluding installment of the LOTR trilogy, is a masterpiece.

The kicker happens about 40 minutes before the ending. Aragorn & Co. have stationed themselves right outside Mount Doom in a suicide attempt to give Frodo and Sam one last attempt to destroy the Ring forever. On Mount Doom, Frodo literally can't move any longer, and Sam, in his most iconic and heroic moment, like, ever, says the now renowned line: "I can't carry it for you, Mr. Frodo, but I can carry you!" Complimented by Howard Shore's uplifting yet simultaneously haunting score, this moment of cinema is enough to make literally any human being on earth cry. Luckily, I'm a robot, and thus immune. But not only is that scene powerful, but I find this one equally as moving and chilling -

Aragorn, with sword in hand, walks up further from the gang, becoming seduced by Sauron's big red eye. Thanks to Peter Jackson's excellent directing and Viggo's phenomenal skills as a actor, the camera moves up with Aragorn, and just when we haven't a clue what the character is about to do next, he looks to the camera - aka the gang - and says in a soft voice, "For Frodo." Two simple, beautiful words, and it's all I need to feel the momentous story of the entire saga, to feel every sacrifice and amount of suffering characters have had to endure. The five or so minutes it takes for these two scenes to happen are some of the most emotional pieces in cinema history. Beautiful, gorgeous, and magnificent. THE RETURN OF THE KING.