Harry Potter e i Doni della Morte - Parte 1

In my mind, the Deathly Hallows Part 1 captured the feeling of exactly what the Harry Potter movies should have been all along: gritty, emotional, and cinematic. I haven't been a huge fan of any of the HP movies to date, but I was pleased with the Deathly Hallows because it took a big step up in maturity from the "children's fantasy" genre and focused on themes very central to the seventh book: hopelessness and desperation.

After the death of Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore, the magical world falls into disarray as Voldemort gains power over the Ministry of Magic and hunts tirelessly after his mortal enemy and our continuing protagonist, Harry Potter. While keeping a low cover, Harry, Ron, and Hermoine decide to track down and destroy Voldemort's soul contained in hidden "horcruxes" but have difficulties deciding what to do and where to start.

The Deathly Hallows very successfully portrays the despair-filled journey of the wizarding trio. With dark undertones running through the cinematography, Part 1 of the Harry Potter finale is the film that deals more with the emotional stagnation of the characters and spends less time with action scenes and major plot points. Since Rowling's seventh book is separated into two movies, Part 1 boasts a much slower pace than earlier HP films and is not so focused on cramming as many subplots and side-stories from the book as possible into the movie's runtime, which tends to clutter up the storyline and make the whole thing feel rushed.

But where the slow pacing makes this film stand out in the series, it also may be its downfall. The Deathly Hallows continually feeds us a feeling of desolation as Harry, Ron and Hermoine fail to discover a way to destroy the horcruxes; they seem to be making no progress towards defeating the Dark Lord, but as an effect the movie seems to be making no progress towards an ending. Storyline lags intensely towards the middle of the film and is dragged out until the conclusion (which ends abruptly). You'll be left in your seats feeling like this is going nowhere- but that's the point: Harry, Ron, and Hermoine are getting nowhere. So I liked this movie because the pace was slow, but I also didn't like this movie because the pace was slow. See what I'm getting at? Aside from that, I can't complain much. Performances were fine, effects were impressive, and best of all, nothing dastardly was done to J.K. Rowling's story.

The Deathly Hallows: Part 1 is a nice improvement and a fine addition to the Harry Potter series and should serve as a solid emotional base for Part 2 to take off with next year. If you've enjoyed the HP movies so far, this should be a satisfying experience at least. If not, let the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 redeem your faith in the series. 7/10

P.S. Keep on the lookout for the scene about the deathly hallows story. It has some of the most beautiful and artistic animation I have ever seen in a movie.

If you've read all the Harry Potter books, then you should know that, as the series went on, they essentially became an allegory for totalitarianism. Certainly one can see that in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1". Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson reprise their roles as Harry, Ron, and Hermione, respectively. The three are now having to live almost in secret due to the almost fascistic takeover of the wizarding world by Lord Voldemort's (Ralph Fiennes) minions. In fact, while the three are undercover in the office building, the factory looks like something out of Nazi Germany or Stalin's USSR: the employees robotically help to publish material which pushes a fear of the "other" (in this case Muggles, or non-wizards). Harry, Ron and Hermione are like the French Resistance, one might say.

Anyway, it's a good thing that they broke the final book into two movies. So far, they're doing a really good job not only bringing the magic to the screen, but also warning of the dangers that totalitarian entities - represented here by the Death Eaters - pose. I recommend it.

Tom Felton, Jason Isaacs, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Robbie Coltrane, Warwick Davis, Brendan Gleeson, John Hurt, David Thewlis, Timothy Spall, Imelda Staunton, and Julie Walters reprise their roles from the previous movies, with new additions Bill Nighy and Rhys Ifans.

As Harry and Ron and Hermoine and everyone else has grown up, so have the audiences with the Potter franchise. So it should make some sense that by the time the seventh book has come around that it's coming down to the wire: the big showdown between Harry and the Man-We-Don't-Speak- His-Name, oh, whatever, Voldemort. It's usually that the mid-point movie (i.e. Empire Strikes Back) is the darkest one, but there was a quasi-dark ending to Half-Blood Prince, so it makes more sense that the filmmakers take Rowling's Deathly Hallows and turn it into what it should be: a ripping good apocalypse yarn.

I kid a little, but it is a movie with a lot of black contours and desolation, as the trio might be walking through the British version of The Road minus some of the gray-scale photography. That, and the main 'plot' being that Harry has to find the horcruxes, which are items that could be used by Voldemort for very evil purposes. But then the next problem comes as how to destroy them? It's this section of the film, after a very entertaining section where the three go in disguise as full-grown-ups (a funny and intense scene in the Ministry of Magic), that it gets into a rhythm that is not what one would expect in a big- budget holiday blockbuster. A lot of it is sitting around contemplating, waiting, trying to figure things out, and if the audience gets impatient it's not due to the filmmaker's making it bungled but because the characters are having trouble figuring it out too, and we feel for them.

Talking with my wife about the books in relation to the movies, I'm told that book seven is meant to be a character piece for a large part of it when they're in the woods (indeed it's something like a hundred pages of these woods scenes with the three, or sometimes two, of them frustrated in figuring out the symbols and suspense of running from the gestapo- like figures of the Dark Lord). But is Rowling as good at characters as she is at clever plots and intricate details of magic? Yes and no. Yes in that she makes good characters that we want to be around (for the most part, sometimes Ron gets on ones nerves), and no in that they are at best two dimensional figures, even with Harry, and there's only so much character to explore. But there are instances where one can excuse the tedium of some of these woods scenes. A moment where Harry and Hermoine have a levity pause and dance to music could be seen as extraneousness, but when it has the music of Nick Cave signing sad blues, why carp?

David Yates' direction has found after a few of these movies- Order of the Phoenix still the best of his efforts but not far ahead of this one- and he has a classical style as far as big-budget high-action-adventure movies go in Hollywood. He can let an actor's rhythm speak for itself, and he has a really wonderful scene for a whole mess of top-tier British talent (i.e. Ralph Fiennes, Alan Rickman, Helena Bonham Carter et all) in the opening scene at Voldermort's castle. When it's exciting such as a fast-paced chase in the sky, it's exciting, and when it needs to slow down there's still attention to be paid to what's going down. Only a few points that a non-book reader such as myself such as a wedding scene for a minor character from movies past and a few points of reference for a couple of items or characters get lost on me.

This is the kind of production that has great attributes and only a couple of damning liabilities, though the former outweighs the latter. There's a sequence where the story of the Deathly Hallows- how the three men who made deals with death for items and things- is told with a unique animation style that has silhouettes and figures that look like a Tim Burton special. It's one of the most breathtaking passages in any Potter movie, sophisticated to the point of impressing any serious fan of fable-storytelling. But the downsides... well, again, some of the pacing in those woods scenes are less than great. But more than that is a kind of curious aspect to the climax, which without spoiling much involves a character who we've only seen in one other Potter movie (I leave this non-spoiler for those who haven't read the books - those that do know what I mean already), and it's a tragic fate for the character. It's a fine moment of drama, but it lacks the punch that was likely there in the book as it's a character who is barely in the film itself and will need some memory-digging for the character's significance before.

But as far as movies where artistic integrity takes place over dumb-loud action and is able to weave visual fx with the practical side of sets and costumes and things with the CGI is very commendable. It's no wonder that Guillermo del-Toro came close to directing this movie, as it appeals to a sensibility that reads the fantastical and supernatural as part of the world, even if one can't see it quite at first. Oh, and the other downside I almost neglected... it's the first part of a two-part finale. It's like getting a half slice of a BIG epic movie, so it's still big, but half-big. But as far as half-slice epics go, it's one of the best in the franchise.

Up until now, I was convinced that from the 4th book onwards, Harry Potter-books had become too complex to make into film: Goblet of Fire was a sore disappointment. Order of the Phoenix left many Potterheads wanting more, even if it wasn't a bad film per se (personally I thoroughly enjoyed it, even though I felt they left out too much). Half-blood Prince -while visually stunning- did not capture the brilliance of the book. With "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", I think the makers have finally succeeded in crafting a movie that was both fun to watch for casual viewers while also catering to the needs of the hard-core fans who know the books by heart. The decision to split the movie into two parts may be judged as a financial one by some, but I'm convinced it was the only possible way to make this work. The movie was cut off at the perfect time as well, having the viewers yearn for more without being too abrupt.

I don't want to give away anything, so I'll just say this: Hats of to you, David Yates. One can only hope the second installment will continue in the same vein...

A lot slower paced than the others, which isn't a flaw. The acting and action is great. It is good to see some change within the characters but it felt like just another setup movie that leads into the big finale.