Director Jewison, in filming the story taken from Brian Moore’s novelization of real events, decided to use an entirely English cast of actors to relieve him of having to use ersatz French accents. (It was a wise decision.) Although this film is not your usual holiday movie, The Statement closely replicates real events — with no need for the usual dramatic enhancements such as car chases or gunfights — yet still supplies everything needed to make compelling drama.

Robert Altman also has a new movie called The Company. This director of such varied films as M*A*S*H, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, A Wedding, and Nashville once again tackles a subject new to him: Ballet. In this film, Canadian actress Neve Campbell (known primarily as one of the silly, screaming twenty-somethings in those Scream movies) plays in a film about the lives and dedication of young, often-fragile members of the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. Ms. Campbell (who insisted on no star treatment) rehearsed and performed with the other dancers, and was accepted as one of the corps de ballet. (Her former training in dance displays well in her performance.) The Company is short of plot, since its narrative forms just the backdrop to the dance sequences. Whether or not you’re a balletomane (or even know what that word means!), this film gives you a sense of the desperation young performers feel: how every time they dance, every contorted gyration they perform could be their last, due to a sudden, career-ending injury.

Malcolm McDowell is perfectly cast as the corps’ officious, self-absorbed artistic director, constantly intruding on rehearsals, and forever telling everyone to “carry on; I’m not here!” while taking everything in. Some may think that Altman’s latest film is too intimate, too laid-back, and too intent on recreating real life. Nevertheless, Altman has admirably depicted the insular world that dedicated young dancers seem destined to inhabit: where dancing is the only thing that matters—except for practicing and anticipating the next production. Nothing here is overly dramatic; but all the pieces fit together in a moving tableau of dedication and quiet determination to give life to one’s soul through Dance.

A decidedly different audience is already running to see The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, which is the third — and by far the most magnificent — in director Peter Jackson’s trilogy of .lms adapted from the J.R.R. Tolkien books. It will help enormously if you can see the first two installments (which so far earned more than $1.78 billion dollars worldwide).

Elijah Wood returns as “Frodo,” the rather wimpy Hobbit and Ring bearer on a dangerous journey back to the place where the evil “Ring of Power” was forged (and is therefore the only place where it can be destroyed). Sean Astin, son of Oscar-winner Patty Duke and actor John Astin, returns as his faithful, determined, and protective friend “Sam.” Sir Ian McKellen still dominates majestically as “Gandalf,” guardian of Rohan, and principal defender of the King and all that is good and decent in Middle Earth. All that aside, most of the movie is a series of prolonged battles, an incredible siege, and encounters with a giant spider, giant eagles, catapults, fires, thousands of horses, bowman, lancers, and anything you can imagine might take place in a medieval war. Multiply those images by a thousand, spread them across incredible, endless plains of some of the most desolate-looking landscape on Earth, and you’ll have a sense of the grandeur that’s afoot here.

If you must see this film — and your children will insist they, at least, should see it — you need to know that it’s often violent, and that it runs nearly 200 minutes. Hitchcock could tell a story in two hours; but then, he never had to deal with more than 20 speaking parts and all sorts of mythological vistas while remaining true to a series of popular novels.

The film takes forever to conclude, and the final farewells make Oscar acceptance speeches look like hiccoughs. Still, expect this magnificent epic to sweep through the technical categories at the Oscars, and be seriously considered for Best Picture. That’s not to say everyone over a certain age will care for it; but those that embrace this genre will certainly expect more episodes. Given the cost and difficulties of reassembling such a cast in New Zealand, they shouldn’t hold their breath.

---

Jeffrey Lyons has been a film critic since 1970 and has reviewed nearly 15,000 movies and 3,000 plays. The son of Broadway columnist Leonard Lyons, whose “The Lyons Den” was the most respected column of its day (1934-1974), he is the critic at WNBC-TV, and is seen on 200 NBC stations. His “Lyons Den” radio reports are heard on more than 100 stations nationwide.

Next