December 04, 2002, Charlie Rose (PBS) -- Viggo Mortenson.  He is the actor who plays Strider (Aragorn of Arathorn) in the Ring Trilogy.  He is, he says, an American.  He appeared on this program with Peter Jackson, the director and Elijah Wood, who is Frodo.
   Wearing a t-shirt that he made himself, which said "No more blood for oil," he objected to those who have compared the story of the ring to America's present situation, because the truth of things is the reverse of what people are saying.  America is the villain in the war on terrorism.  America is the terrorist.
 

   He went on to compare the terrible thing we did recently in Afghanistan with the terrible thing we did in WWII.  I am not kidding, and I am not exaggerating.  As far as he is concerned, both were about bombing innocent civilians. 

   It was a tour de force of ignorance so blatent and so airheaded that it left me with a feeling of disgust for the film.  I will not be able to watch any of these films without remembering this interview.
   This moron should be shown the videotape of the woman the Taliban executed in the stadium.  He should see them force the woman to her knees, where she begged for mercy.  He should see what the crowd of cheering Moslems saw.  The pistol  put to the back of her head.  He should hear the report as the trigger was pulled and the bullet blew her brains out.  
   Her crime, by the way, was infidelity.

   And this moron says we were the side representing Sauron in that land.
   When I think of the people in the streets of Afghanistan, cheering and dancing as our troops entered their villages, when I think of the airplanes crashing into the World Trade Centers and bringing them down and when I think of the Nazi death camps -- and reflect on what this moron just said, not twenty minutes ago, I must as a matter of honor to the tortured, the gassed and the executed turn away now from this film series.
   To give this film company and their investors money, to provide income for this actor, who said our attitude towards Iraq is nothing more than a vendetta for the father of the president, would be spitting in the face of the victims of terrorism, and of the men who made D-Day the greatest single act of heroism of our age.

   I have had enough of brainless actors using the platform of great art to vomit on America.  Those of you who know the background story of the Ring trilogy are aware that the first part of it Tolkien wrote was the section about the Inn at Bree.  He wrote it during the period just prior to WWII, when he saw Hitler's power befouling Germany and growing in menace for those beyond its borders.
   The moron actor, Viggo, with his words, befouled J.R.R. Tolkien's very reason for writing the epic tale.
   Viggo said that America was about the right to express your opinions.  My suggestion is that we should express ours.
   He will receive no more money from my pocket.  Nothing would please me more than if ten million Americans agreed, and by turning away from the Lord of the Rings films, sent a message that the film industry will not soon forget.

LL

© 2002 Oregon Magazine