MY MOVIE SHELF: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2

 

The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015.  Remaining movies: 56 Days to go: 40

Movie #384:  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2

Since that midnight showing of Chamber of Secrets back in 2002, I don’t think there was a single Harry Potter film I didn’t attend a midnight screening for. I was certainly not going to miss the first showing of the final installment. Being the end of the series, though, the midnight screening was handled a little differently. Instead of a single night of screenings of a single film, my local AMC theater offered an entire week of screenings — Monday thru Thursday — of the entire series, much like I’ve done for these posts. My husband, mother-in-law and stepdaughter went every night and watched two films, all leading up to the final night of Deathly Hallows part 1, followed by the midnight release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. That final morning, though — Thursday, July 14, 2011 — I had a growing suspicion and I took a test to confirm it. I was pregnant. It was scary and unexpected, but also thrilling and incredible. And I will always associate my first knowledge of my darling little princess with the final Harry Potter film. It’s fitting, really, because life, as we know, goes on. In our world as well as this fictional one.

From the very start of the series, death has always been an accepted and even integral part of life in the magical world. So it follows that death is an integral part of this last film as well. Indeed, it is his unnatural obsession with thwarting death, with living forever, that corrupts Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) so completely. No one is meant to live forever, and the twisted desire to will result in the ruination of your soul. It is for this reason that Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) goes to die in the forest. It is the next logical step in the mystery, and the next step in destroying Voldemort. And as Neville (Matthew Lewis) says when they all think Harry has died, he still lives within them, just as all their fallen comrades do. “People die every day.” But not Harry. Harry is the boy who lived.

The maturation of Neville Longbottom over the course of the eight films is easily one of the most moving among all the characters. Not only has he changed physically (and oh, has he changed — Neville’s transformation from a schlubby kid to a tall, impressive young man is perhaps the best example to kids that they won’t always be the awkward dope they are at 11), but he’s grown in confidence and abilities too. He’s a leader now, and an inspiration to others. He’s also a courageous fighter, and it is he, not Harry, not Ron (Rupert Grint) and not Hermione (Emma Watson) who kills Voldemort’s snake Nagini.

Other characters get some triumphant moments in Part 2 as well. Professor McGonagall (Maggie Smith) stands up to Snape (Alan Rickman) and Slytherins looking to turn over Harry alike, as well as to use the spell she’s always wanted to use, in the protection of Hogwarts. Likewise, it is Luna (Evanna Lynch) and her rare and logical reasoning that directs Harry to the ghost of Helena Ravenclaw (Kelly Macdonald) to find the lost Ravenclaw diadem, long since turned into another of Voldemort’s horcruxes. And prototypical nurturer Molly Weasley (Julie Walters) has always been a formidable mother to her children, but mostly just a loving and gracious host the rest of the time. Not so when Ginny (Bonnie Wright) is threatened by mad killer Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter). “Not my daughter, you bitch,” she shouts, and she unleashes some seriously badass magic, shriveling Bellatrix into nothing and then exploding her apart. Take THAT, you evil witch!

Helena Bonham Carter, of course, is a phenomenal actress, and no scene is better than her acting as Hermione disguised as Bellatrix via Polyjuice Potion. The uncertainty and stilted nature of her carriage and speech is masterful and so unlike the unflinching cruelty Carter infuses Bellatrix with normally. It may have been a longshot, but I really would’ve liked to see a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her in this film. She earned it, completely.

The movie is different from Rowling’s text in several places, as it needs to be in order to transform the story to a visual medium, but the spirit of the narrative remains largely intact to a really impressive degree. There are thrilling action sequences, weighty emotional scenes, and an almost zen acceptance of the inevitability of what’s to come. Be it the goblin Griphook (Warwick Davis) leading Harry, Ron and Hermione into Bellatrix’s vault at Gringott’s Bank, and their subsequently wild escape on the back of a dragon, the terrifying release of the Fiendfyre in the Room of Requirement, Snape’s loving and heartbreaking memories of Harry’s mother Lily (Geraldine Somerville) (and Snape’s role in Dumbledore’s plan), Harry’s talk with Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) in the heavenly King’s Cross Station, or Harry’s final battle with Voldemort, the film moves seamlessly between moods and tones and creates a world as fully realized on the screen as it was in our minds when reading the books. “Of course it’s happening inside your head, Harry, but why should that mean that it’s not real?”

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 does not hold back at all, and several lives are lost in the course of the film. Characters on both sides are killed, and many of our favorites are still being mourned by fans. (I will never ever get over my beloved Fred (James Phelps) having to perish.) But death is a part of life, and no one can live forever except in our hearts. Which they do, as evidenced by the children we have to carry on our names and legacies, and the children Harry and Ginny and Ron and Hermione have as they start a brand new cycle of life and growth by sending their own children off to Hogwarts. A new generation to grow and change, to face their own trials, their own triumphs, and their own lives.

Life, as we know, goes on.

MY MOVIE SHELF: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1

The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015.  Remaining movies: 57 Days to go: 40

Movie #383:  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1

So now the quest for horcruxes begins in earnest. Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) are preparing to set out as soon as Harry turns seventeen and is no longer a minor under magical law. For Hermione, who has non-magical parents, this means wiping their memories entirely, so as to protect them from anyone who might want to get to her. For Harry, his own muggle family the Dursleys (beautifully played over the course of seven films by Richard Griffiths, Fiona Shaw and Harry Melling) are evacuating the house on Privet Drive. And soon the Order descends on the house to pick up Harry himself, secreting him away to the newly protected home of the Weasleys. (Several of whom will be disguised as Harry himself — a fun bit of comedy and special effects to get the ball rolling. The Weasley twins (James and Oliver Phelps), especially, are great fun at all times. If you do not have a favorite, and if that favorite is not Fred (James), then I don’t understand you at all.)

This first action sequence is both thrilling and terrible, as the Order is attacked by Death Eaters and not everyone makes it out alive. Mad-Eye (Brendan Gleeson) is killed, but sadder still is the loss of Harry’s loyal owl Hedwig. This, plus the injury to George, sets the tone right from the start: No one is safe. Lives will be lost. The final confrontation is near.

But before that confrontation can come, the three friends are forced to go out on their own and fumble about, trying to find the missing horcruxes, to figure out what they even are, and to prepare themselves for the meeting with Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes). And Voldemort is preparing too. As we see in Harry’s dreams and visions, Voldemort is after something as well. He wants a wand, the Elder Wand, in fact, a wand said to be the most powerful in the world.

The animated telling of the story of the three brothers, wherein the legend of the Deathly Hallows emerges, is one of the most beautiful and haunting sequences in any of the films. Narrated by Hermione, the tale identifies the three magical objects known as the Deathly Hallows — the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone and the Invisibility Cloak. These three items can help one become master over death, able to defeat it, and they will be invaluable to the wizard that claims them.

More than any of the other films, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 is about the relationship of these three friends, about their fears, their strengths, their weaknesses, their passions, and their loyalty. It’s about the strong sibling-esque bond between Harry and Hermione, the brotherly love (and sometimes rivalry) of Harry and Ron, and the growing love and closeness between Hermione and Ron. The movie is almost naturalistic in this sense, focusing simply on the mostly aimless wanderings of three young adults, trying to make their way, to reach their goals. But for all that simplicity, there is also quite a bit of action and suspense in this final installment before the end.

There are several attacks on the trio as they live on the run from Death Eaters and Snatchers, both in the woods, on the London streets, and at the home of Xenophilius Lovegood (Rhys Ifans). There are also the scenes involving the locket horcrux, when the friends sneak into the Ministry thanks to the Polyjuice potion to steal it from Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton), plus the scene in the Forest of Dean when the patronus of a doe reveals to Harry the location of the Sword of Gryffindor, which can destroy the horcrux. (This is the third time Harry nearly drowns, though he is thankfully saved by Ron, who rejoined his friends thanks to the deluminator left to him in Dumbledore’s will — an object that first appeared in the first scene of the first film in the series.) The actual destruction of the horcrux is also pretty harrowing, playing on every one of Ron’s insecurities. And then there’s their capture and escape from Malfoy manner, as Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter) tortures poor Hermione and dear sweet Dobby the Elf (voiced by Toby Jones) loses his life to save the others.

Sadly, not every aspect of Rowling’s exquisite book could be included in the film, and the tale of Kreacher (voiced by Simon McBurney) — one of my most favorite, most heartbreaking scenes in the novel — is all but entirely lost. But the overall story of the first half of the book is held remarkably intact and I find myself incredibly grateful that the finale was split into two films. For how much more could you cut?

Next, we open on the close, in which Voldemort has the Elder Wand (stolen from Dumbledore’s tomb) and things will finally come to an end for Harry Potter.

MY MOVIE SHELF: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015.  Remaining movies: 59 Days to go: 41

Movie #381:  Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

If you’re going to pit Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) against Dumbledore (Michael Gambon), it had better be a major battle. No wand sparks and streams of green and red light emitting from forcefully pointed sticks. There had better be destruction. Chaos. All hell breaking loose. Thankfully, the filmmakers of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix understood this, and the final battle in the film is one for the ages, with fire and floods and shards of glass and complete havoc wreaked inside the Ministry of Magic, nearly tearing it apart. It’s everything a magical confrontation of the two most powerful wizards should be. It even ends with Voldemort briefly possessing Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and tormenting his mind in terrible, frightening ways. But even the terrorizing, merciless acts of Voldemort don’t hold a candle to the real villain of Order of the Phoenix: Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton).

Dolores Umbridge is a Ministry official intent on quashing talk that Voldemort has returned. In an effort to discredit Harry’s and Dumbledore’s claims that he has, she takes the open Defense Against the Dark Arts position at Hogwarts and then uses her influence with the Minister Cornelius Fudge (Robert Hardy) to appoint herself High Inquisitor — a position of great power than allows her to fire teachers, ban activities and use corporal punishment (or even torture) on students. As a teacher she is practically useless, offering the students no actual skills or defenses, instead insisting on teaching them strictly theory via a child’s textbook, as a means to simply pass their assessment tests but not gain any real knowledge, but as High Inquisitor she’s a despot, cruelly interrogating students with veritaserum (or the Cruciatus Curse, if it suits her), having them followed, and forbidding any and all activities that could be considered independent or against her rule. She is racist against “half-breeds” like centaurs, she is gleefully sadistic and power-hungry, and she is the enemy of free thought.

In every way, Dolores Umbridge gives off a feeling of unease, like she is not to be trusted, and once again, this is evidence of J. K. Rowling’s imaginative and thoughtful storytelling. If something is dolorous, it is mournful, bringing about pain or grief or sorrow. And umbrage is a feeling of offense or annoyance or hostility. Rowling gives her villain a name using homonyms of these words to express someone who, despite her sunny, perfectly pink wardrobe, affection for fluffy kitties and high, cheerful voice, is incredibly off-putting, offensive and hostile. She brings nothing but grief and sorrow and pain to people at Hogwarts, interfering with the school on every level, and eventually deposing Dumbledore as Headmaster when the Ministry attempts to arrest him for building an army against them.

Dumbledore’s Army, as it is called, comes into being not by Dumbledore’s hand, but by Harry’s as he, Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) convince other students that Voldemort is out there and that they have to learn how to defend themselves. The students band together and meet in secret, in the hidden Room of Requirement, practicing stuns and patronuses and all sorts of other defensive magic, with Harry as their teacher. It’s one of my favorite sequences in all the films — indeed, I think Order of the Phoenix is the best of the films overall — because it involves so many of our favorite students interacting with one another and building confidence in their abilities. Plus you get to see many of their patronuses — always a favorite insight into their character.

The characters in Order of the Phoenix expand as well, as we’re introduced to many people outside of Hogwarts who are also part of the titular Order, secretly amassing against the Death Eaters. In addition to characters we already know, like Sirius (Gary Oldman), Lupin (David Thewlis), Moody (Brendan Gleeson), the Weasleys (Mark Williams and Julie Walters) and (to Harry’s displeasure) Snape (Alan Rickman), there is also Tonks (Natalia Tena) and Ministry guard Kingsley Shacklebolt (George Harris). And there is the introduction of the headquarter’s secret location, in the hidden Black family home, where House Elf Kreacher (voiced by Timothy Bateson), will prove important later. And at school we also meet the unique and incomparable Luna Lovegood (Evanna Lynch) who, in addition to Fred and George Weasley (James and Oliver Phelps), Neville Longbottom (Matthew Lewis) and Ginny Weasley (Bonnie Wright) will become instrumental to the cause as well. But there aren’t just new good guys, however, as one of the most notorious followers of Voldemort, Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter), is broken out of Azkaban and proves to be a deadly addition to Voldemort’s crew.

There are a lot of things going on in Order of the Phoenix, both inside Hogwarts and out, and it is clear that an all-out war between good and evil is inevitable and forces are mounting. The magical world is no longer limited to the school, just as, at fifteen the world tends to open up beyond that of your school and home life. Bigger issues are at play, and sometimes terrible things will happen, but, in Hogwarts as in life, Harry is best equipped to handle them because of his friends, because of his loved ones and because, “We have something worth fighting for.” As the forces of good and evil come ever closer to confrontation, Harry and the members of the Order are all going to have to cling to those things more than ever.