I’ve just given the first part of an interview with a Spanish cultural magazine about my own book, Bilbo’s Journey, and how it relates to the forthcoming film adaptation of The Hobbit by Peter Jackson. I thought the exchange might interest Ink Deskers:
1. How can the book Bilbo´s Journey help us to prepare our cinema experience with the forthcoming film The Hobbit II: The desolation of Smaug?

My book follows the plot of Tolkien’s story, following in Bilbo’s footsteps on the journey to the Lonely Mountain and back again to the Shire, mindful all the time of the spiritual and ethical meaning that emerges in every stage of the journey. We need to remember that Tolkien referred to The Lord of the Rings as “a fundamentally religious and Catholic work” and we need to understand that The Hobbit is equally and as fundamentally religious in its deepest level of meaning. As such, Bilbo’s Journey will enable people to understand and enjoy Tolkien’s story in all its richness and depth. This, in turn, will make it easier for those watching the film to see the strengths and weaknesses of Peter Jackson’s adaptation. 

2. What´s your opinion about the previous film, The Hobbit I: An unexpected journey? How can we get deeper messages from this film with the book Bilbo´s journey?

If I am to be honest, and perhaps controversial, I would have to say that I was not very impressed with the first film. I thought that far too many liberties were taken with Tolkien’s text. Some of the characterisation was appalling. Radagast the Brown, a Franciscan presence in Tolkien’s story, was transformed into Radaghastly the Ridiculous, a drug-taking buffoon who is pulled around by a pack of Bugs Bunny lookalikes. In this sense,Bilbo’s Journey helps to restore the magnificence and majesty of Tolkien’s work after its abuse and molestation by Peter Jackson.  

3. What´s the most important spiritual message that we can find in the book The Hobbit according to Bilbo´s journey?

At its deepest, The Hobbit is a meditation on the words of Christ in St. Matthew’s Gospel that where our treasure is there our heart will be also. The dragon sickness in The Hobbit is similar to the evil effects of the power of the Ring in The Lord of the Rings. It warns us that the thing possessed possesses the possessor. We are in danger of becoming possessed by our possessions in such a way that we become like dragons, or like Gollum, addicted to those things in our lives that are ultimately self-destructive. Such selfishness can only be overcome by selflessness, by laying down our lives for others in acts of self-sacrificial love. The Hobbit teaches us how to overcome our pride so that we may learn to love in the fullest way. This is nothing less than the most important lesson that we all have to learn. I thank God that Tolkien teaches such a beautiful lesson in such a beautiful way!