A Springfield High School graduate turned his love of J.R.R. Tolkiens’ “The Lord of the Rings” books into a new documentary, “Ranger of the North.”
Bradley Bethel was 12 when he first read his father’s boxed set of “The Lord of the Rings,” and the epic fantasy left a lasting impression on him. Years later, while majoring in English at Ohio State University, the SHS alum was thrilled when Peter Jackson’s cinematic adaptations were released, and since then Bethel has watched the movies more times than he can remember.
“Like a lot of fans, I rewatch the movies at least once a year, and I think the extended versions are the best,” he said.
But it wasn’t until the COVID lockdown in 2020, nearly 30 years after his first reading, that Bethel re-read the novels. Now living in North Carolina, where he teaches high school English, Bethel was so inspired by his re-reading that he started a local Tolkien club and began teaching “The Lord of the Rings” in his classes.
Soon after, Bethel, a parttime filmmaker, elected to film a documentary about the way Tolkien changed one man’s life.
The particular man is Peter Christian, who also read the books as a boy growing up in Ohio. Christian re-read the novels throughout his youth, and over time they shaped the way he thought about the world, eventually inspiring him to move to Alaska for a career as a ranger with the National Park Service.
The two men met in an online Tolkien class offered through Signum University in 2022. Bethel was fascinated by Christian’s story and knew it would make a good documentary.
“I often tell my students that great literature can change your life, and I think Peter is one of the clearest examples of that,” he said. “So I got this idea that we should make a film about him, and a couple years later I went to Alaska, following him to the Arctic Ocean.”
In August 2024, Bethel and his film crew followed Christian through different wilderness areas north of the Arctic Circle.
The resulting 30-minute film, “Ranger of the North,” focuses on Christian as he navigates the Alaskan landscapes and confronts the causes and effects of climate change.
Rather than interview Christian along the way, Bethel collaborated with him afterward to write the film’s narration in the style of an inner monologue.
Through the narration, moviegoers learn how the environmental themes found in the trilogy inspired Christian throughout his career as a ranger.
One of the film’s themes is the search for hope in the face of climate change, and at multiple points in the film Christian looks to Tolkien for guidance.
“As a ranger in Alaska, I’ve seen firsthand the effects of climate change, and it’s often a struggle to maintain hope. But that struggle for hope is at the core of Tolkien’s writing,” Christian said.
Bethel agreed, “What is hope? And how do we find hope? Those are some of the essential questions in books. For our film, we wanted to explore how Tolkien answers those questions and how his answers might apply to our current climate situation.”
“Ranger of the North” had its world premiere at Chagrin Documentary Film Festival in October and has been playing at film festivals and conferences since then. Bethel said there will be additional screenings nationwide in the next few months, and he hopes to release the film on streaming platforms in the spring.
In the meantime, Bethel is excited to bring “Ranger of the North” to the Toledo area, where a public screening will take place at the Maumee Indoor Theater at 11 a.m., Friday, December 26. Tickets are $7 each.
“Hometown screenings are always great, and this will be especially fun because of the film’s Tolkien connection, and so many people who love ‘The Lord of the Rings.’”
