Harry Potter; books, movies and nostalgia

I belong to the Harry Potter generation and my entire youth has been about these wizard’s apprentices. I’ve ripped through the books, seen the movies and read the unofficial ‘studies’. On Tuesday the 17th of November, at midnight, I saw the first movie about the seventh book. The text below is as much a flashback and reflection on my obsession with the series, as a review of the latest movie. Beware: spoiler alert. This text refers to events from the final book that have made it into the movie!

Slight obsession

When I first heard a classmate talking about the story with the bespectacled wizard’s apprentice in the lead, I thought something along the lines of “whatever”. A day later, I was walking through a bookstore and found myself suddenly holding the same book. I decided to see what this was all about and found myself hooked.

That first book by the hand of J.K. Rowling - the first in a series of seven - sold mostly by word-of-mouth advertising. That didn’t last very long, because for the subsequent parts a well-oiled PR-machine was put in motion. By the time the books were put into movies, there was a definite rush on it.

Over the years, many have counted the days until the next book or movie. Thousands of people showed up at the midnight book sales to get their copy and read it the whole night through. And I was amongst them, dressed in a worn rugby-kit-with-cape that was supposed to be a Quidditch outfit. I counted the days until I could once again turn over that magical cover or take my seat in the cinema. The fact that there were an infinite number of fans who, like me, showed signs of slight obsession, did not diminish the feeling that Harry Potter was mine, as I expect other fans felt the same.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was first published in 1997, with the Dutch translation following in 1998. The last movie of the series, the second part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, will show in cinemas around July 2011. By then the wizard’s apprentice craze will have lasted 14 years. I can say with certainty that at least half of my life has revolved about the Boy Who Lived, who became a wizard and had to vanquish the most evil wizard ever. Harry’s life at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry pretty much parallels my “carrier” in highschool; with vicarious shame and ashamed recognition I read the parts in which Harry struggles with puberty. Looking back at the first movie is almost like opening a photo album: “Ah! Look. How young he still is!”

The beginning of the end; the premiere of Deathly Hallows – Part 1

The last few years my obsession has diminished somewhat. Still, every year, I read at least one of the books again (although I sometimes fast-forward to the best parts). I no longer search tirelessly for the slightest scraps of news about Rowling or the, by now, so familiar actors. I can now look critically at the movies and the last book did not meet all my expectations, as was the case for a lot of fans. We all consider ourselves experts. And the story still feels like it belongs to me. As the final movies are making their way towards cinemas, the end of the spectacle is nearing. Reason enough to present myself once more, fully dressed up, at Pathé cinema in Maastricht on a Tuesday night. I sat there between peers who were obviously in the same nostalgic mood as myself and expectations ran high. What to think of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1?

To start with, there was that addition; cutting the final book into two parts. Was that smart (more time) or sneaky (more money)? Which scenes had been deleted? How would new characters be portrayed? After all, the sixth movie had been slightly disappointing – a fun and thrilling movie, sure, but what happened to the original plot? Wait a minute, was this even in the book?

Review

This wasn’t the case with Deathly Hallows. To our great relief, it follows the order in the book and all major events have made it into the movie. Of course, some of the scenes are brief, but they have taken enough time to explain everything and have even left the audience some room to breathe. There are also enough scenes that give the movie character and create suspense. It looks like it has been a good choice to cut the movie into two. Furthermore, this first part ends with tension rising, so it’s obvious the true spectacle is yet to come.

The creators have taken a good deal of time to give the movie a very dark atmosphere. Under Voldemort’s reign (played by a truly frightening Ralph Fiennes), no wizard or Muggle is safe. Even in the first scenes, we see the Lord of Darkness kill a witch in cold blood. His reign also effects non-magical people and for the first time we get a glimpse of Hermione’s family.

For good reason the first words spoken in the movie are: “These are dark times, there is no denying.” The toll these dark times take is plain to see in the faces of the trio of wizards, as well as all other characters in the movie. Everyone is scared, everyone is exhausted – especially if, to destroy Voldemort’s secret weapons, you have to sleep in a tent for months. Despair leads to arguments and emotions run high, although these scenes aren’t always very well acted: they lack of lot of the feeling that the book manages to put into words.

It’s the big issue with this movie: although the sequence of the book is followed meticulously, many of the nuances have fallen away. Furthermore, the first part of the book takes place in and around a tent, which leaves the movie without many of the familiar Harry Potter-elements: No Hogwarts, no teachers, no Quidditch. What’s left is a series of scenes that sometimes feel unrelated, especially if the audience is not familiar with what is still to come. Without the second movie, the relevance of some events isn’t clear.

Still, the plot gives us a, at some points rapidly increasing, suspense. Harry’s dreams about Voldemort are disturbing and the scene in which he is attacked by the snake is terrifying – even if (as a hardened fan) you know what is to come. On the other hand the re-entry of Dobby the house elf gives some relief, short lived as it is. Regarding the characters, there are some fine new additions: We finally get to put a face to Bill Weasley and one of the Death Eater’s cronies gets a bigger part than he gets in the book. Rhys Ifans puts down and formidably pathetic Xenophilius Lovegood, who puts the trio on the path of the Deathly Hallows: three objects that are said to make the one who possesses them Master over Death. This leads to a surprising scene. In a series of movies in which special effects hardly amaze anymore (after six movies the magic gets a little old), the animation, that is used to tell the story of the Deathly Hallows, is of a different class altogether. It’s a part of the movie that seems detached from Harry, Ron and Hermione, but which is so important, that it is a relief they took enough time to tell it.

The careful handling of Rowling’s last book has resulted in a movie that lasts two-and-a-half hours. The next part is yet to come, including the true finale, but in all, it’s still the beginning of the end. Part 1 offers tension that mounts towards the final confrontation between the ultimate good and the darkest evil. Even so, it is up to the last movie to wrap it all up. The way it is set up now, the relevance of some of the scenes isn’t clear yet. This leaves us to count down towards the final movie, wistful and nostalgic.

Sources: www.todio.nl