a little bit of this

aflon's posting of the pics from Tehran had me searching for another compassion related quote:

“When I started this, I never thought I was going to end up as a major action hero,” he laughs, clearly bemused by such an outcome. Obviously, there was the possibility people could embrace these films but I don’t think anybody really thought, with any certainty, that they would do as well as they have. They’d be lying if they said they did because nobody could know they would become the biggest movies ever. Anyway, this whole thing isn’t about that,” he insists. “Essentially, Peter wanted to make a film that was a decent, heartfelt effort that did justice to the book and wasn’t afraid to be emotional. I think he’s done that in a big way! He talked about the story-telling in terms of compassion, mercy, sacrifice and the great characterisation of these books, rather than it being a Hollywood blockbuster. Personally, one of the most valuable things I got from working on this movie was the importance of compassion, mercy and sacrifice. I already believed in those things anyway but I was reminded of their importance because those themes are constantly brought to your attention in this story. It’s something we see when Boromir (Sean Bean) redeems himself, by literally giving everything, including his life, to save the hobbits. Until then, although he occasionally found them amusing, he’d had nothing but disdain for them because he didn’t think they were very useful, since they couldn’t fight. But he finally realises he’s misjudged them and, in the end, learns the value of being open-minded and compassionate. It’s so easy to be selfish, to just think about yourself. But you have to make the effort to think about others and try to understand them – especially people you disagree with – because it’s vital for [world] harmony,” asserts Mortensen, alluding to the Gulf War and its aftermath. “There’s no real future for any community that doesn’t embrace the values of compassion and mercy, particularly toward people who are different or who you don’t understand. We actually have more in common with other people, other cultures and other races than not,” he suggests. “People need to make a conscious effort to try and find some common ground, rather than react to what they see as differences.”

Viggo Mortensen
Desmond Sampson in Pavement magazine
Summer 2003/2004

( a hint of Fellowship compassion & maybe some wonkiness )