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HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 1 |
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(****) |
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Reviewer:
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Jim "JR" Rutkowski
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Writers:
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Steve Kloves. Based on the novel: Harry Potter and
the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling |
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Starring:
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Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson,
Rupert Grint |
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Rating:
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PG-13 for some sequences of intense action violence and frightening images |
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"Equal parts action thriller, political parable, and multidimensional love
story, "Hallows" feels sad and strong and true..."
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 It might be hard for someone unfamiliar with the
Harry Potter universe to catch the nuances of HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY
HALLOWS, PART 1. Fortunately, the larger themes are intact, despite some
liberties taken with the chronology of the books and the usual necessity of
streamlining a richly plotted novel into a workable screenplay. Ably directed by
David Yates in this, his third Potter film (and he’s also directed
Part 2, due
out in 2011), from a script from the series’ veteran screenwriter, Steve Kloves,
this installment brings the story more firmly into the adult world. It also
emphasizes the battle between good and evil over the magical pyrotechnics
attendant upon it. Evil Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes), the arch fiend of the
piece, may be feeding his enemies to his pet snake, but the real evil is the
fascist regime he is installing, and that people are embracing, at he Ministry
of Magic and at Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft.
The genius of why this film, like the book, resonates so deeply is that Rowling
has found the perfect junction of pure fantasy and real politics gone horribly
wrong, both of which evoke strong emotions. The pamphlets warning the public
about the dangers of mixing Muggle blood with the purer Magical blood has a
cover that is pure German Expressionism of the 1920s and 30s. The interrogation
by the creepily buoyant Dolores Umbrage (Imelda Staunton) of a mudblood, the
magical offspring of Muggle parents, is a painful parody of that used by Nazis
interrogating those suspected of having inferior genes.
Strip away the fantasy elements and you could almost be watching a story set
during World War Two – with Harry and co cast as members of the Resistance
forced to go underground as a Fascist state obsessed with blood purity rounds up
its enemies. There’s even a scene – as Harry escapes from the Death Eaters on a
flying motorbike’s sidecar – that recalls WW2 dogfights.
One of the best scenes in the film is that which finds the three at the deserted
headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. The desolation of abandonment of both
building and people externalized in a sly shot that diminishes both is size and
sets the perspective so that it all seems to be disappearing into the distance
as one of them intones with wonder and alarm that they are now really all alone.
No parents, to authorities, and no safe haven, even there.
It’s the spirit that runs through the film as the three take in on the lam with
only the scratchy sounds of a dim radio broadcast to keep them informed of
what’s happening in the larger world. Landscapes broad and as bleak as the mood
fill the screen, overwhelming the viewer as the situation overwhelms Harry
(Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint), and Hermione (Emma Watson).
The audience, like Harry, has become accustomed to wizarding. The story moves on
to more pressing issues. We’ve come to expect dazzling special effects, and once
again the series delivers. The most evocative being not with the swirling
smokiness of diving Deatheaters, nor with the wand-lightning duels, nor even
with the disappearance of Fiennes’ nose as the reptilian Voldemort, but rather
with a retelling of the story of the titular Hallows themselves, rendered into a
superbly crafted facsimile of sophisticated shadow puppets that heighten the
emotions of the story and of the teller, a poignantly victimized Xenophilius
Lovegood (Rhys Ifans), and of the listeners with its pared down presentation.
We’ve come to expect thrilling action sequences, and once again, the series
deliver that, too, though it is the more subtle uses that create more suspense.
What has made the series special is that it is also so very human, and it has
grown as the children themselves have grown. The innocence of childhood giving
way to the headstrong confusion of adolescent hormones underscoring and even
informing the larger conflict.
Grint, again, is the best touchstone in all of this. Without Harry’s resolve, or
Hermione’s brilliance, he is the heart of the operation, though a heart that is
all too tender. During an impromptu piano duet between Ron and Hermione, Grint
zeroes in on the overwhelming rush of joy at being so near the object of his
affection with the authenticity of a 17-year-old with no clue about what to do
next. The air of absolute indifference broken with a quick, shy glance at Watson
that speaks volumes about the enormous, scary passion that only a boy of that
age can feel. Watson is flinty, tough, but showing a vulnerability that makes
her prickly personality endearing rather than off-putting. Radcliffe is, as
always, stalwart, as the grim-faced hero who has earned his grimness through six
years of wizarding training at Hogwarts, each of which became a life-and-death
contest with his nemesis, Voldemort in one guise or another. The script allows
for a respite though, during the sojourn in the wilderness, as Harry invites
Hermione to dance in the tent that shelters them. The tenderness of camaraderie
balancing a tense sexuality borne of loneliness and confusion.
Vivid actors pop up in parts that vacillate between large and small in each
film, leaving the audience wanting more of them, a source of not inconsiderable
frustration. Topping that list is Alan Rickman as the Snape, the snaky potions
professor who is last seen, all to briefly at the beginning, throwing in his lot
with Voldemort. Helena Bonham Carter playing Voldemort’s acolyte Bellatrix as a
wild-eyed lunatic, Peter Mullan oozing cool if gleeful malevolence as a Ministry
functionary more than delighted to terrorize everyone. Short shrift is paid to
the denizens of Hogwarts, and Hogwarts itself, for that matter, but the deceased
headmaster of the place, Dumbledore (Michael Gambon), is still a presence to be
reckoned with even in flashback. Don’t discount the CGI characters, either,
particularly Dobby (voiced by Toby Jones), a rubbery house elf with floppy ears,
haunted eyes, and a pivotal part in the drama that becomes an emotional
catharsis for the audience.
At over 2 ½ hours, HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, PART 1 never drags, and
barely pauses as it races along, including as much action and plot as it can
squeeze into its running time before finding the perfect moment, and a truly
inspired image, to resolve into a cliffhanger. The only flaw is keeping us
waiting for the rest of the story. Even those who know how it turns out from
reading the books.
Equal parts action thriller, political parable, and multidimensional love story,
"Hallows" feels sad and strong and true. And when it's over, you want that last
chapter to begin immediately and, somehow, never end. This is the best film in
the series so far. |
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HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY
HALLOWS-PART 1 © 2010 Warner Bros.
Pictures Distribution
All Rights Reserved
Review © 2010 Alternate Reality, Inc.
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