Tolkien- the film that kept giving.

Tolkien- the film that kept giving.

This was a film about a fantasist, dreamer, a jolly good fellow and a man who believed that anything was possible. In fact he was so convinced that you could do anything that by the end of this heartwarming film about a famous author some of us were willing him on to fulfil those fondly held wishes. This was a film about self discovery, achieving the ultimate goal, never giving up and then fighting to the bitter end.

Tolkien, now released in a cinema near you, is about love, tenderness, feeling, defiance and doggedness. It is about holding out for something that means so much to the human soul, a stubborn persistence in the face of defeat. Tolkien braved both the bullets, war and the kind of darkly extenuating circumstances that lesser mortals would have found difficult to imagine.

Of course JRR Tolkien was one of the greatest authors of the 20th century. He was immensely learned, deeply thoughtful, ceaselessly questioning, always inquiring, constantly interested and never less than fascinated by a whole number of varied literary devices and forward thinking linguistic techniques that could only have been previously considered as simply impossible. By the end of Tolkien we felt enlightened, informed, intellectually uplifted and almost relieved that there was a happy ending.

The film opens on the bloody battlefields of the Somme during the First World War where our young academic is plunged into mountains of thick mud while dead soldiers lay scattered about Tolkien, horrific looking corpses that had been taken in their youthful prime without ever realising that they'd be the ones who would be losing their lives.

The opening scenes shows a cold, terrified Tolkien shivering on open land with specks of blood on his jacket and barely able to understand the magnitude of the events that were unfolding before him. He then trudges out of the trenches before embarking on a romantic journey that would lead to marriage with the woman he'd always loved. Then there was that final moment when The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings would become his lasting literary masterpieces.

 Tolkien also developed lifelong friendships with three of his fellow Oxford university companions, faithful allies and like minded men with similar visions, ambitions, hopes and abundant idealism. The film highlights the strength of their companionship, their commendable loyalty to each other, their wit and humour, and above all the kindred spirit that would always triumph. Theirs was a closely knit solidarity, a binding unity and old buddies camaraderie.

There was JRR Tolkien, beautifully played by Nicholas Hoult. Geoffrey was a joky, upbeat student who was forever joshing, jesting and forever winding up Tolkien, here acted with understated brilliance by Anthony Boyle. Last but not least there was the equally as knowledgeable and erudite Christopher, aka Tom Glynn. All three men formed the warmest confidentiality in one another without ever deceiving or falling out.

Tolkien is full of flashbacks to the author's somewhat privileged childhood where his eminently respectable and virtuous vicar father Colin |Heaney warns his son that if he doesn't live up to the very high standards set by his father he may always have cause to regret the past. But John Ronald Tolkien continues to live in a world of ancient languages, Nordic and Celtic tales of fairies and goblins, a world of  surreal landscapes that would transport the budding author into new lands and far away territories.

But then the true course of love would appear on Tolkien's radar. Edith Bratt, is the studious pianist who would smile, pout and flirt her way into Tolkien's affections. Their relationship would endure for many a decade, a marriage of wholesome compatibility and warmth. There was an amusing scene where, enjoying an elegant tea together with his girlfriend in a high society restaurant, Edith throws some sugar at a nearby table for no particular reason at all other than the satisfaction of  making the serious Tolkien smile.

Towards the end of the film there were emotional and touching moments when Tolkien discovers that his best friends, Christopher and Geoffrey have been killed in action in the killing fields of the Somme. Now it is that all of Tolkien's vulnerabilities are painfully exposed as he grapples with the torturous knowledge that he will never be able to talk to the friends he'd always felt he could trust.

Tolkien died in 1973, leaving behind him of course the wondrous legacy that would immortalise him for ever more. The Hobbit, the stunning Lord of the Rings and the Fellowship of the Ring plus a whole conveyor belt of fantasy novels, have now earned him a place in the literary folklore that now defines him.

Lest we forget there were also highly cultured and cameo performances from the evergreen Derek Jacobi, that most distinguished of English actors. Jacobi plays the shrewd Oxford teacher who eagerly embraces Tolkien's fertile imagination. And finally who could ever overlook the outstanding Pam Ferris who once graced our screens with Ma Larkin in the Darling Buds of May but here in Tolkien plays the matronly Mrs Faulkner delivering home spun advice to one and all.

You may want to feast your eyes on Tolkien because the one word title itself will tell you all you need to know about the man, his books, his mystically arcane tales of intrigue and imaginary characters. In a world where nothing is what it may seem you may find that everything you learnt about Tolkien was wonderfully true. Here was a gentle, pipe smoking man with a storyteller's gifts and the most descriptive genius. How we salute you John Ronald Tolkien.