All the world knows of Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived. Still, not everyone knows – or may want to know – minor giveaways about how the final movie played out. If you’re one of them, you might want to come back in a few days: I’m not sure I can keep the magical details to myself, now that I’ve seen it.
It being, of course, the final movie. The last Harry Potter. The final time we’ll see such magic, such wonder, such brilliant recreations of Jo’s world brought to life. Aw, quit it or I’m gonna get weepy again.
Because I did – weep like a little girl, that is. I couldn’t help it. The entire cast was phenomenal, no matter how bit their parts (and they did try to squeeze everyone on camera – fittingly, I thought). Alan Rickman, however, lit of the screen. There’s already talk of an Oscar nomination for Mr. Rickman. And why not, for surely the movie balanced around two scenes, both Rickman’s: his death scene in which former enemies Harry and Snape acknowledged the debt owed each other and their love (in far different ways, ahem) for Harry’s mother, Lilly; and the sequence of memories starring Snape and Lilly: how they grew up together as childhood chums, how Snape turned double-agent and beseeched Dumbledore to keep the object – and the secret – of his love safe, and above all others the scene where Snape finds a fallen Lilly just after Snape has killed her family. All of her family, that is, except the Boy Who Lived. Aw, damnit, there’s another tear.
Yes, that last scene was a little improvised; nothing one would find in the book. But what I loved about the movie was its balance: it stayed true to the plot of the text while inserting a few (but not too many) fresh scenes (and even those which were improvised kept the salient details. See: Neville, Kick-ass); it balanced battle scenes with emotional moments; it inserted comical lines when we needed A Moment (who doesn’t think Maggie Smith had the best line in the entire movie?!), but didn’t force feed any down our throats; and best of all, it threw in enough shout-outs to prior Harry Potter moments to acknowledge this fantastical ride without detracting from the flow of the scenes. Doxies from HP2, the roast boar, the Quidditch field, Professor Trelawney, Wormtail…and perhaps my favorite moment, when Harry Potter emerges from Arianna’s secret passage and the theme from the very first Harry Potter movie swelled through the scene and spilled over and off the movie screen. I was enchanted. I was teary-eyed. I was, as ever, completely under Harry’s magical spell.
It was a wonderful night. A fitting end to a beloved series. And god help me, I can’t wait to go again.
July 25, 2011 at 9:47 am |
Harry Potter has a special place in my heart. I remember my oldest son starting to read the books when he was in 4th grade. The size of the book was intimidating but his teacher pushed him to read it because she knew he was able. He loved it and then I read it and loved it. He read a few of the series and then lost interest. I, on the other hand, read them all and loved them all!