Harry Potter and the Last Decade of my Life

Last night, with heavy heart and droopy eyelids, I embraced the final cinematic adaptation of Harry Potter.  For many of those who sat in the theatre alongside me, this was the end of a journey.  For some, it was a simple finality to a series they had enjoyed, and for others it was the completion of an epic tale, a side-along Bildungsroman of their own development from child to young adult.

Few films have scrutiny comparable to that of the Harry Potter franchise, which fans will dissect and magnify trivial cuts that were hard-pressed, but important, to be made.  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 may not have lived up to everyone's expectations, but it did fine to live up for mine.  More (spoiler-rific) after the jump.


Nearly ten years ago, I saw the first Harry Potter film with some cohorts I'd met in the dorms my Freshman year at UNT.  I did not remember anything spectacular about the experience.  It was a movie.  There was some kind of dispute or conflict between fans of Potter and those of Lord of the Rings, which also had a movie come out at the same time.  Having seen both, I didn't make the slightest connection.  Potter was a children's book made into a children's movie.  A nice little ditty about a boy who discovers he is a wizard and is shipped off to a school for budding wizards and witches, wherein hikinks ensue.  Lord of the Rings was an epic masterpiece, and a clearly adult one.

And so it went.  A second Potter film came and went, and I along with it, being disposed at the time to watch films much more frequently than now.  Passable and entertaining, but still a story of children for children.  But something happened next I had not expected.  I had a flight cancelled.

For the life of me, I can't remember where I was going - whether it was to or from home, perhaps? - but stuck at the airport, I decided that I would pick up Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (a subversive renaming of the original Philosopher's Stone which plays into a great deal of mythos, but which American editors were worried children would not find appealing).  It was simplistic and digestible; so much so that I had still not boarded and decided to pick up the second in the series, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - and, for good measure, the third: Harry Potter and Prisoner of Azkaban.

The second text (to date still my least favorite) was a welcome distraction from waiting in the terminal, but (now boarded and on my way) upon opening the third in the series, the world of Hogwarts truly came alive.  It became so that I could not read the book fast enough.  As quick as I could get my hands on them, down went both Goblet of Fire and The Order of the Phoenix.  This book (Phoenix) in particular won me over to the series implicitly.

Though now I had reversed my role.  Much as the first books were of little interest because of the films I'd seen, the films of the books I'd read (and by the time Prisoner of Azkaban was showing, re-read) held less luster than they might have.

Harry Potter and the Dealthy Hallows, Part 2 (and, for that matter, its predecessor) suffers this same inconvenience.  The film opens at the last "rest area" of the final book, which was when I had put it down to get some water before hunkering in.  From the Shell Cottage chapter onward, Deathly Hallows is unstoppable, making this a logical place to break apart the book into the seperate films (well done, screenwriter Steven Kloves).  After securing the Cup of Helga Hufflepuff from Bellatrix Lestrange's vault deep under Gringotts, the Wizard's bank, Harry and Co. escape on the back of a tortured dragon, and head to Hogwarts for the final battle with Lord Voldemort.

The battle is climatic, starting with an avid wand-off between Professor McGonagall (played by Dame Maggie Smith) and newly appointed Headmaster, Severus Snape (expertly captured by Alan Rickman, who embodies Snape and was Rowling's first choice to portray him).  Though not in the source text, Professor McGonagall's battle with Snape starts the conflict adeptly, and gives us a couple rare moments to see characterization in the faculty of Hogwarts that the books had not provided.  After casting a complicated spell in which the statues of the castle come to life, Smith nails a beautifully penned line with an expectant joy, "I've always wanted to do that."

Fan service is offered to nearly every major character (though I was slightly disappointed to miss Professor Trelawney - who was always excellently portrayed by Emma Thompson - chucking crystal balls at invading Death Eaters).  The whole thing borders on kitschy, but never lingers quite too long.  The battle is well fought, and though the Trio has destroyed two more Horcruxes (oh yeah, that's still going on...) the real advancement in the story (centering around the ill defined, titular Deathly Hallows) has Lord Voldemort killing Snape so that he can be the rightful owner of the most powerful wand.

In his dying moments, Snape shares his memories with Harry, and it is here that Rickman steals the show.  Watching his transformation from Death Eater, to mourner of a lost love is perfect.  An added scene shows Snape embracing a recently slaughtered Lily Potter, for whom he has loved since childhood.  The anguish in Rickman's face is devastating, and implies empathy for all who have been lost so far: Hedwig, Mad-Eye Moody, Cedric Diggory, Sirius... every death in the series which has touched the reader's heart is etched into the lines of Snape's face as he wails at Lily's death.

The conclusion brings Harry (now knowing that a part of Voldemort lives inside him), walking up to the Dark Lord ready to embrace his death.  By dying, Harry knows that Voldemort will be able to be killed, since the part of Voldemort's soul that is inside Harry will bind him to this world.  But as the Avada Kadavra (or killing curse, for you Muggles) strikes Harry, he does not die.

It's somewhat important to note that he doesn't die for a reason, namely because he is the rightful posessor of all three Deathly Hallows.  The movie doesn't feature this, however, and why would it?  It's not like the film was named after the damn things...

Anyway, not-dead Harry appears in an extremely clean manifestation of King's Cross.  Joined by Dumbledore, this is the chapter of Deathly Hallows I was most anxious to see on the big screen.  My expectations were low and not exceeded by the film.  Simply too much had not been explained in previous movies to get into it now.  At least my favorite line - and an embodiment of what the series means to me - remains: "Of course it's all in your head, Harry!  By why should that make it any less real?"

Not-dead Harry wakes up and we are ready for the final clash between the Chosen One and Lord Voldything.  However, with so much that has already built up (including Neville's chopping of the snake, Nagini), it's hard to top.  As a result, the battle between Voldemort and Harry feels a bit lame.  Some loose ends are wrapped up and the screen fades to black before revealing the words "19 Years Later" and performing a short vignette of the Epilogue Rowling provided at the end of Deathly Hallows.

I'm not sure seeing the movie was worth being this tired - but it was an experience that I had to see through to the end.  These are books I've loved, and have invigorated literacy across the United States.  It's hard to to feel a pang of loss in thinking that it's all over...

...until I crack open Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone again, that is.

Bonus.  A Valentine Card I made a few years back.