A couple of weeks ago I talked about how great it was watching Lord of the Rings. One thing I mentioned specifically was Peter Jackson's intro to the movie and how he felt really welcoming and appreciative of my (our) patronage.
Well this week I went to go see Return of the King and Jackson described something particularly interesting, at least to me.
He described how when he was a boy he read a lot about the Battle of Waterloo and the French Calvary charge on English foot soldiers. He said that he was amazed by the size of Napoleon's Calvary, 6,000 men strong. Jackson wished he could see what 6,000 men charging on horses looked like, but since the advent of technology- tanks, cars, planes, and the like- there was no need for countries to keep training Calvary. Jackson would have to make due with artist images, which look like this...
When I saw the charge during the movie suddenly it became much more important. I related it to Waterloo, and was reminded that those were real men charging into battle. Through that connection, everything on screen felt more real, more emotional. It was a great bit of film making.
If you don't believe me, look at that picture again.
And if that doesn't do it for you...