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Harry and friends are on the run in the excellent Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 |
Director: David Yates
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Rupert Grint (Ron
Weasley), Emma Watson (Hermione Granger), Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix
Lestrange), Robbie Coltrane (Rubeus Hagrid), Ralph Fiennes (Lord Voldemort),
Michael Gambon (Albus Dumbledore), Brendan Gleeson (Mad-Eye Moody), Richard
Griffiths (Vernon Dursley), John Hurt (Mr Ollivander), Rhys Ifans (Xenophilius
Lovegood), Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy), Bill Nighy (Rufus Scrimgeour), Alan
Rickman (Severus Snape), Fiona Shaw (Petunia Dursley), Timothy Spall (Peter
Pettigrew), Imelda Staunton (Dolores Umbridge), David Thewlis (Remus Lupin),
Toby Jones (Dobby), Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy), Peter Mullan (Yaxley), Evanna
Lynch (Luna Lovegood), Julie Walters (Molly Weasley), Mark Williams (Arthur
Weasley), Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley), Helen McCrory (Narcissa Malfoy),
George Harris (Kingsley Shacklebolt), Clémence Poésy (Fleur Delacour), Domhnall
Gleeson (Bill Weasley), Warwick Davies (Griphook), Nick Moran (Scabior), Guy
Henry (Pius Thicknesse), David O’Hara (Albert Runcorn), Sophie Thompson
(Malfada Hopkirk), Steffan Rhodri (Reg Cattermole), Simon McBurney (Kreacher)
The final book of the Harry
Potter series made its own slice of film history: it was the first time a
book was adapted in two films to “get the whole story of the book across” (or
to make double the box office cash – take your pick). There was scepticism
about creating a film about the first half (or so) of The Deathly Hallows, as a large chunk revolves around our heroes
walking around the countryside, confused, lost and adrift. Instead, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 turns
this material into one of the richest, most engaging and best films in the
series. Any film that expands a throw-away reference from the books to Hermione removing her parents memories of her, into an affecting opening scene showing Emma Watson doing the same is really inventively playing with the original source material.
David Yates takes on his third Harry Potter film – and this is possibly the best he filmed. In
fact, the whole film feels fresher and different – perhaps because it’s the
only film to not have a single scene at Hogwarts. Instead our characters are
out in the forest and on the run – and the film has completely different vibe,
immediately lending it a uniqueness. Equally, it isn’t shy about pointing out
our heroes are all-at-sea. Harry doesn’t really know what he is doing, or where
to start with his self-imposed quest: and surely when Ron angrily asks why
Dumbledore didn’t tell him more (or if Harry wasn’t even listening properly)
he’s voicing some of the questions of the audience.
This film, more than any other, focuses on the relationship
between the leading three characters. While getting an idea of their friendship
and loyalty to each other, we also get a sense of the tensions and envy between
them. Not least in Ron’s grudging acceptance that he is the number two. Rupert
Grint has been slowly building under David Yates’ films from a comic relief
character to an increasing (slightly surly) teenage insecurity and troubled
sexual maturity.
This really pays off in this film: Ron is bitter and
jealous. These feelings might be exacerbated by the necklace the characters
must take turns wearing, but it’s just bringing to the surface Ron’s darker
feelings of inadequacy: and Yates even brings them to the screen in a
necklace-induced vision of a naked (but artfully concealed in smoke!) Harry and
Hermione alternately making out and rubbishing Ron. It’s a plot point that
covers Ron overcoming his resentment and cementing his position in the gang.
It’s very well done – and Rupert Grint is very good.
Equally good is the gently sad, mutually affectionate
relationship between Harry and Hermione. Alone together for large chunks of the
film, the characters’ bond is firmly established, the chemistry between the two
actors never clearer. The film plays with the subplot it’s been suggesting for
a while of a potential deeper relationship between Harry and Hermione: not least
in its beautiful silent dancing sequence to Nick Cave in the tent (one of the
best ever entirely invented scenes in the series) that is friendly, but with a
hint of the possibility of something more – something the characters seem to
consciously decide to bench. This sort of emotional reality is what makes the
film really stand out. It turns the “camping trip” of the novel into something
more profound and engrossing – I’d say this is the only sequence that really
outdoes the books altogether in the entire series.
But of course there is still plenty of action, and humour, a
highpoint for both being our heroes infiltrating the Ministry of Magic,
disguised as ministry employees. Playing the adult disguises of our heroes
brings out three hilarious and sharply observed physical performances from
David O’Hara, Steffan Rhodri and Sophie Thompson. In fact, the film has a bit
of a thing for disguises, from a disfigured Harry (who may or may not be
recognised by Draco, in another piece of excellent acting from Tom Felton as a
terminally out-of-his depth and terrified Malfoy), to the opening scenes
featuring half the cast being disguised as Harry. Daniel Radcliffe excels in
this sequence, playing versions of most of the young cast with real wit and
skill.
Yates allows a creeping sense of imminent danger to hang
over the whole picture, straight from the off. A “conference of baddies” at
Malfoy manor shows us Voldemort (the ever sinister Ralph Fiennes) re-establishing
his murderous villainy from the start – and also belittling and mocking poor
Lucius Malfoy (a crushed Jason Isaacs). From there, via a gripping escape from
Harry’s home, to a wedding scene that quickly collapses into a terrifying
attack from Death Eaters, it’s a film full of excitement.
Yates shoots this with tension and edge. A sequence with
Harry and company fleeing through the forest from snatchers is so well-done, so
intense and immersive, that they used it for the poster. This sequence uses
really interesting camera work and tracking shots – in fact the whole film is
very well filmed and extremely well-paced. It’s also got an eye for the real
nastiness of regimes like Voldemort’s: people like Umbridge (an increasingly
Himmlerish Imelda Staunton) flourish, while bullying thugs like Yaxley (an
intimidatingly excellent Peter Mullan) rule the roost.
Kloves script sets up a lot of the fascinating back-story
from the novel, not only around Dumbledore but also the Deathly Hallows
themselves (I’ll not mention for now that most of this build-up is fumbled in
the last film). There is a beautiful animation sequence establishing the
history of the Deathly Hallows, which is an artistic highlight. The slow
unveiling and revealing of facts is wonderfully done – and rewards the patient
viewer.
The film culminates in a final sequence at Malfoy manor that
carries a great wallop of emotional torment and dread (first torture scene in a
Potter movie for those interested…). Surprisingly a lot of this emotional force
comes from Dobby the elf – irritating as he was in Chamber of Secrets, here he gets a few scenes that carry real
emotional force.
Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows Part 1 is possibly the only Harry Potter film that is an actual improvement on its original
source material (there I said it). I think it’s a brilliant film, a film which
carries real emotional weight and has genuine things to say, not just about
good and evil, but also about the sort of teenage angst and yearnings we’ve all
had. The three leads are all excellent, and there is barely a bum note in the
whole thing.
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