Back on the unforgettable battle of the chasm of Helm, considered by many spectators as one of the most epic sequences of the trilogy of Peter Jackson, and even as one of the greatest battles in the history of cinema.
The night fell on Helm's abyss. Dark clouds stole the moon and the stars with hundreds of soldiers who wait for the citadel slots. Calm is overwhelming before the terrible storm that is preparing, and it is barely if we perceive the creak of a barricade or the raucous breath of an old man, posted on the ramparts.
In the distance, still deaf and indistinct, but no longer for a long time, hundreds of thousands of gules roars and vocify. A drop of rain suddenly comes to lift the steel from a helmet, and a few minutes later, it was under a nourished downpour that the Uruk-Hai finally arrive at the walls of the abyss.
Aragorn draws his sword. A frightened arrow leaves for the neck of a first enemy. A roar sounds.
“The battle begins”Solemnly declares Théoden.
The highlight of the two towers
From Gladiator to Troy via the last samurai, the 2000s undeniably offered us some of the most epic and impressive battles in the history of cinema. And when it comes to evoking the highest feats of arms of the decade, it is impossible not to come back to the breathtaking, the magnificent, the virtuoso battle of the chasm of Helm.
Unmissable episode of Tolkien's work, this fierce confrontation between the last forces of Rohan and the army of Saroumane constitutes the highlight of the two towers (second part of the Peter Jackson trilogy) and one of the most striking scenes in the whole saga.
A real feat in terms of staging, organization and technicality, this sequence of around forty minutes represents one of the greatest challenges noted by the New Zealand filmmaker on the set of the Lord of the Rings. As tells it An excellent Telegraph articleeven though he filmed Aragorn fighting on the parapet of the citadel, Jackson received a call from the threatening studio to make a lawsuit and mortgage his house for budgeting.
Metropolitan Filmexport
“I have always been interested in the battle sequences”
A terrible pressure that did not prevent the director from signing one of the most beautiful battles in the history of cinema.
“I have always been interested in the battle sequences. Until then, I had never had the opportunity to turn one. I enjoyed the opportunity to see these multitudes on the screen”he said At the microphone of the Telegraph in October 2023.
“When you have to manage 5 or 10,000 extras, you need to find a solution to come alive by themselves. We have therefore developed this revolutionary system which allowed us to film a battle scene with thousands of extras.”
Punctuated by mythical moments such as the explosion of the rampart, the attack on the elves, the breakthrough of Aragorn and Gimli to defend the large door of Fort-le-Cor or the final charge of Theoden and his riders, the battle of the chasm of Helm will have had entire generations of fans shiver.
(Re) Discover the trailer of the “Two Tours” …
