Now I can confess. I have never read The Lord of the Rings. I realise that to some people this will be an astonishing confession. How can anyone who claims to be educated and literate not have read the most read and popular book of the 20th century? To be honest I just did not get round to it. After seeing the first of Peter Jackson’s trilogy of films based on the book, I decided to wait until I had seen the third before going on to read the book. It was therefore with some degree of anticipation that the Robertson family waited for our now annual Christmas outing to the cinema. It was well worth the wait – so much so that I have already been back.

The Return of the King is quite simply the best film I have ever seen. It is visually stunning, superbly acted, marvellous cinematography, the plot is clever and interesting, the music beautiful, the New Zealand scenery spectacular and the special effects, well, special, without being over the top. In fact I would find it very hard to fault any aspect of the film. And that opinion seems to be shared by most reviewers in Britain. This would, you think, make it a cert for the Oscars. I hope that I will be proved wrong but I doubt it will win best picture or anything like the number of Oscars it should. Why? Because the Oscars are decided by the Hollywood glitterati and The Return of the King just does not suit them. It is just not Hollywood. It is a film made in New Zealand, with a cast of relatively unknown or minor actors, most of them not American. It does not have the normal Hollywood formula and there is no sex. Furthermore it is too deep for the shallow, superficial and trite culture portrayed by Hollywood. And it is not about America. Whereas Cold Mountain, the film tipped to win the most Oscars, is about America and does have a big Hollywood star in Nicole Kidman. Hollywood has a particular view of America, and it is one that is not a fair or accurate representation of the USA. Whether it is rewriting history, or making simplistic generalisations about the current world situation, it is a sad fact of life that Hollywood survives on a formulaic diet of superficiality, sex, special effects and superstar syndrome. And The Return of the King just does not fit in with that. It could never have been made in Hollywood. There is also a certain amount of jealousy involved. How dare an unknown from New Zealand make such a successful film without Hollywood superstars?!

Another reason for Hollywood having a go at The Return of the King is simply that Hollywood is still bound to a modernist philosophy. The traditionalist fantasy of Tolkien is an attack on the modernism of the 20th century and some of our modernists just do not like it. You just wait for the snide ‘geek’ comments and the overblown articles from those who will proudly proclaim that they were never able to get into Tolkien's works. New Line, the American film company who had faith in Peter Jackson, are to be highly commended for their support. And they will be rewarded – Return will probably be the second film, after Titanic to gross over $1 billion.

As a Christian I am thrilled with the whole trilogy. Not because it is a Christian analogy. It is not. In fact Tolkien despised the idea of analogy. It is simply a story and a cracking good one. But it does deal with a number of major themes which any Christian should be happy to discuss. Death, glory, honour, friendship, love, friendship, loyalty, good and evil amongst others. I guess that many ‘studies’ and outreach events will be done using the films. And why not?

As I was thinking a little about this I attended my daughter’s school Christmas service. The reason I was there was to watch her play her violin (which she did very well). As I looked round there was a reasonable attendance of pupils and parents. It was a good opportunity for the minister to explain the gospel. The carols were the usual ones and some were very good in communicating the gospel – ‘Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, Hail the incarnate Deity’. And what did we hear from the minister? She started with Saddam Hussein – the theme apparently being tyrants (she was not quite prepared to put President Bush in the same category but you could see that was where she was going, or coming from). And then she went on to Legolas (from Return) – to her credit it was actually the one time she connected with the congregation. But her message? Christmas is about goodness. It does not matter if you have faith as long as you let the light of your goodness shine out. It was difficult to see how much further you could get from the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Remember – the one who was named Jesus because he would save his people from their sins! The whole thing was infuriating. If only that woman had stood up and explained the Good News about Jesus. As it is all these people think that they have heard the news. To them it is irrelevant, boring and meaningless. They will get more excitement, meaning and relevance from going to see Return of the King.

But that is only fantasy. The Real Return will be something else. It is Christmas and we celebrate the coming of our Lord and King, Jesus Christ. As I explained to the children at one primary school this week, we do not normally celebrate the birthday of someone who is dead. But Jesus is special. And he is not dead. And he will return again. This King will come back. Whereas he came the first time without pomp and in very humble circumstances, when King Jesus returns every eye will see him. He will come in the clouds with power and glory. Meanwhile the battle against sin and evil will continue. We continue to live in this mixed world of beauty and ugliness, truth and falsehood, sadness and joy. And we await the Return of the King. Maranatha!

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