There Was a Child Went Forth at Hogwarts

Movies: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows pt. 2

Spoilers.


I am not a model Harry Potter fan. I've only read the first book and a little of the second. I keep meaning to pick up the third and read from there, but other books seem more interesting to me.

But in a weird way, not reading the Harry Potter books gives me a unique perspective on the films. I'm not concerned about whether or not every plot line and every character makes it to the movies. My concerns for each Harry Potter film are: 1) Is it fun? 2) Is it artistically done? 3) Can I follow it?

Based on these criteria, my favorite of the Potter movies (not including the last two) are The Prisoner of Azkaban for it's artistic vision and emotional weight (I wanted to cry when Harry realized that the vision he saw of a wizard performing the Patronus charm was not his dead father--but was Harry himself. Not exactly subtle, but still...) and The Order of the Phoenix for the sheer force that is Dolores Umbridge. I found myself not so enamored by the first two films in the series (kid stuff) and the Half-Blood Prince (I remember about 5% of what happened).

The first six films have their ups and downs, but the final two, The Deathly Hallows part 1 and 2, seem to be cut out of entirely different cloth. The safety of Hogwarts seems like a distant memory. Harry's isolation and fear are palpable. Imagine it: Harry's closest loved ones and mentors are dead, and he knows that Voldemort will not stop there. He will kill anyone and everyone to get to Harry. Although Harry has his loyal--perhaps insanely loyal--friends with him, he must surely realize that he's going to have to sacrifice himself in order to save those he cares about. And that is a task he'll have to face all alone.

The first part of The Deathly Hallows is concerned with Harry, Ron, and Hermione fleeing from Hogwarts (now under the supervision of Snape) and hunting down and destroying the horcruxes--objects with bits of Voldemort's soul. The second part brings us back to Hogwarts for a final showdown between good and evil.

I realized while watching this movie that the Harry Potter films become increasingly grim with each entry. That's not necessarily a bad thing. But while earlier films had dangerous situations that were leavened with humor, zaniness, and/or Ron screaming shrilly and pulling a face, the dangerous situations in The Deathly Hallows are just, well, dangerous. Take the scene where the gang breaks into Bellatrix Lestrange's vault. In an earlier movie, this scene would have been done with a sense of wacky humor. Instead, when the trick vault ends up nearly suffocating Harry, Ron, and Hermione with luxurious objects like silver plates and gold coins that reproduce when touched, it just seems like another terrifying obstacle for the trio to overcome. And when Goyle sets fire to the room of requirement, forcing everyone to frantically search for an exit on brooms, I thought "My God, these kids are psychopaths!". Malfoy, Goyle, and the other kid (whatshisface) are no longer just bullies--they're arsonists and attempted murderers. Stupid, incompetent ones at that.

This change in atmosphere reflects the maturity (or loss of innocence if you like) of the characters, and it's what makes the final Harry Potter film so bittersweet. All of our favorite characters are grown up and forced--whether they like it or not--to kick ass in order to survive. Here is sweet Neville Longbottom assassinating the snake Nagini with the Sword of Gryffindor. Here is the Weasley family, sobbing over Fred's dead body. I admire JK Rowling for having the guts to kill off major, beloved characters--because death and destruction is exactly what happens in a violent battle.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 unfortunately doesn't have room to fit in everything. I was surprised at how quickly the battle scenes went by. In the aftermath, we see Tonks on Remus Lupin lying side by side in death, and there's a throwaway line about how their baby will grow up to learn how its parents died fighting for a noble cause. Um, lame? Even the scene where Harry dies and meets Dumbledore in the afterlife seems to go by quickly (nice touch with the bloody fetus/Gollum type thing representing the part of Voldemort's soul in Harry). The movie is packed so full that it can only afford to linger on the most poignant and exciting scenes for a few moments before moving on.

But all of the flaws in the final Harry Potter film are understandable and unavoidable. You can't translate an epic book series to the big screen without breaking a few eggs, right? And I'm not sure if my lack of knowledge of the books made me more forgiving or less forgiving of the movies' foibles.

In the end, it doesn't really matter that I never read the books. Maybe I avoided some of the intense and complicated emotions that devout fans of the books who grew up with Harry felt. But I was still touched and awed by the final chapter, in which the Boy Who Lived grew into a man.

4.5 out of 5 stars