After all these years of so-so Harry Potter movies, I must admit it feels a little silly endorsing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 so enthusiastically, but I have to give it up. This is not only the best entry in the series by far, it is a surprisingly mature statement for a popular fantasy movie, one that I think will serve the legions of Potter fanboys and girls much better than those other fantastical black holes, Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings. Fans of those series are left at the end trying to recapture the magic by either shoving money into the pockets of greedy merchandisers or by otherwise retreating deeper into the recesses of their parent's basement, er, I mean imagination. In Deathly Hallows, director David Yates and crew end their magical series by confronting fans with a very somber meditation on some of the darkest moments of “real world” history. Hopefully this will not be lost on viewers.
Deathly Hallows pulls off a magnificent bait and switch. For years, we've followed Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and his trusty sidekicks Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) through the halls of Hogwarts. Sure the stakes were higher each time out, but the stories were always couched in the wonders of childhood and adolescence. Part of the reason Harry Potter has such a fanatical following is that many long to be him and live in that world. Harry and the gang could always fall back on the joys of weird jellybeans and Quiddich games, or at least the comforts of Christmas and a warm fire in the hearth, even in the darkest times. As of Half-Blood Prince, however, Dumbledore is dead (really dead) and Voldemort is loud and proud and out of the closet. Deathly Hallows opens with none of the warmth and cuteness we've come to expect from the series. In fact, it opens with a politician (Bill Nighy) defending the Ministry of Magic against claims that Voldemort is already running the show. Immediately afterward Hermione – who's what, 17? – wipes herself out of her parents' memories out of fear for their safety. The kids aren't going to Hogwarts this year, they're just trying to escape with their lives. It's clear from the start that this is going to be a very, very different Harry Potter movie. In the other Potter adventures, we could always rely on the trusty Hogwarts school schedule. No matter how bad things got, the adventure had to wrap up by May so everyone could go home for summer vacation. Hogwarts is noticeably absent in Deathly Hallows, both literally and figuratively.
If J.K. Rowling captured the ennui of growing up past school age in the seventh book, Yates takes it further in the seventh movie. Harry Potter occupies the most fantastical corner of fiction, with makes it all the more interesting that Yates makes the series dovetail with reality so harshly in it's finale, playing the conclusion of the Potter mythos as a big World War II metaphor. Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) is an easy stand-in for Hitler as he calls for an Aryan nation of pure-bred wizards. The more subtle satire is that Voldemort's inner circle is made up of inbred degenerates. The Holocaust is reinvented through the persecution of Muggles and Muggle-born wizards and witches. When Harry disguises himself to sneak into the Ministry of Magic, he is obviously dressed as a gestapo officer. Residual Holocaust memory is also suggested when Harry, Hermione, and Ron are forced to escape into the woods with no allies and dwindling supplies to avoid capture by roving bands of marauders working for Voldemort. When Ron listens for the names of dead and missing loved ones over a static-heavy pirate radio broadcast, the World War II allusions become visceral rather than just of academic interest. Deathly Hallows incorporates not only these familiar scenarios but also their iconic imagery: nouveau propaganda pamphlets, oppressive architecture, and the isolated locals of the hunted.
Not that Deathly Hallows is wanting for original iconic imagery, either. The "multiple Harrys" escape that opens the movie is one of the series' most charming and surprising images. Before the escape, the procession of Harrys, sundry beloved characters, and magical transports manages to feel surreal, ludicrous, iconic, brave, and melancholy all at once. The action sequence that follows is a brief flash of excruciatingly tense excitement, as are all the action sequences in the movie. Yates controls the action to drama ratio closely, and as impressive as the opening chase and the breaking into the Ministry sequences are, I get the feeling we haven't seen anything yet.
Again, maybe it's because we've broken out of the confines of Hogwarts, but Deathly Hallows feels like the most properly British Potter movie, rather than some American literature nerd girl fantasy of Britishness. There are glimpses into the everyday lives of both city and country Muggle Brits here that would warm Michael Powell's heart. Yates' movie exudes a genuine affection for the landscape and the people. What's more, Yates seems to have a handle on British film history. Watching the graveyard sequence, listening to the church bells chime over quiet snowfall, I couldn't help but be reminded of Brian Desmond Hurst's Scrooge.
I'm not the first to point out the remarkable cast that has been assembled over the course of the Harry Potter movie series. Any movie that can afford to hire John Hurt, but then only have him hanging around in the background for just about 10 seconds of the movie is just outside my scope of comprehension. The greatest British actors and actresses of our generation whiz by at a furious pace. Don't get me wrong, it's a good thing that the movie stays focused on the three leads, Harry, Hermione, and Ron. It's an even better thing that Radcliffe, Grint, and Watson are up to the challenge. Whoever cast those three a decade ago deserves a raise. Since I've already read too much praise for Radcliffe and Watson, I want to point out how great Rupert Grint is. The character of Ron Weasley has been relegated to the role of humorous sidekick for much of the series. As the situation grows dire in the Potter-verse, however, Grint channels the hopes, dreams, and fears of the everyman.
Magic Moment: Harry, Ron, and Hermione hide in a picturesque Muggle barn. The grass is green and the sky is blue. Our heroes hide in the shadows as three Death Eaters fly overhead at a distance, leaving trails of black smoke like enemy fighter planes.
-Ben