These movies are compelling; they often serve to inspire us to our own greatness. We may leave the theater with multiple and somewhat paradoxical feelings. On the one hand, we may be inspired to face our fears with honesty and feel absolutely compelled to improve our situations in life with renewed resolve. However, as these movies speak directly to our superegos, we may also feel heightened self-criticism and shame that we have not matched the true greatness just witnessed on-screen.

Movies created and released during Saturn-Pluto oppositions and conjunctions of the 20th Century include: Birth of a Nation(1915; Saturn-Pluto conjunction); All Quiet on the Western Front and M (1930 and 1932, respectively; Saturn-Pluto opposition); Hamlet (1948; Saturn-Pluto conjunction); A Man For All Seasons (1965; Saturn-Pluto opposition) and Das Boot, Reds, Gandhi, and television's The Day After (all films created and released under the Saturn-Pluto conjunction of 1981-1983.)

The Lord of the Rings trilogy, produced and released under the current 2001-2002 Saturn-Pluto opposition, is the latest set of movies to carry the torch of this profound and significant archetypal combination. Although couched in fantasy, The Lord of the Rings is not lightweight fare but a deep and weighty epic tome that speaks to a fundamental theme of humanity: strength, resilience, and perseverance in the face of almost insurmountable evil, temptation, and hardship. Moreover—and what makes the film a prime exemplar of the Saturn-Pluto phenomenon—is that it is a wonderful exploration of the fundamental and assumed battle between "light versus dark," and "good versus evil" in this world.

As many commentators have alluded to, Tolkien's purpose in writing The Lord of the Rings was not allegorical or a proselytizing of his own Christian faith, however, he was using the vehicle of myth and story to connote transcendental and perennial truths. One of these transcendental truths that Tolkien believed was that it was metaphysical reality that the world polarizes itself into light and shadow in order to realize its own redemption and rebirth, what Tolkien called "eucatastrophe"—an unexpected and joyous outcome resulting from tests of faith and struggle. The Lord of the Rings holds little or no ambiguity in its relationship to good and evil: Orcs, Saruman, and the Ringwraiths are wicked to the core as Frodo, Gandalf and the elves of Rivendell are virtuous, good-natured, truthful, and defy temptation.