Scene of the Week: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 2

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 2

directed by David Yates

The scene: Forget "Braveheart", "Milk", "Titanic" or whatever movie that makes you cry. Look no further - this will reduce you to pathetic bucket of tears. In a sequence, that with all honesty may be the most powerful and certainly is the saddest I've ever seen, we see the memories of Severus Snape. In the twist we find out that he was a great hero and he loved Harry Potter's mother Lily, even after she chose James Potter over him and may have never loved Snape in return. Beginning with "Dumbledore's Farewell" playing in the background we see Snape's reaction to finding Lily Evans's dead body. To avenge her death he was a spy for Dumbledore after her demise. After the reveal made by Dumbledore - that Harry needs to die in order to defeat Voldemort, Snape is shocked at Dumbledore's cruelty - keeping the boy in the dark for so many years. Dumbledore asks if after all those years Snape now cares for the boy - in the response Snape conjures his patronus - a doe, identical to Lily's patronus and looks at it with sadness and absolute reverence. Dumbledore, astonished, asks Severus if he loved Lily all those years, after all this time, to which, after we see a quick glimpse of crying Snape holding Lily's lifeless body, Snape responds "Always".

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 2

(130 min, 2011)
Plot: Harry, Ron and Hermione search for Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes in their effort to destroy the Dark Lord.
Director: David Yates
Writers: Steve Kloves (screenplay), J.K. Rowling (novel)
Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint

Years of magic, years of love.

(spoilers)
I remember when I was still a kid and I was siting in the theater watching “Harry Potter and the sorcerer's stone”. I recall how I loved the characters flying on broomsticks, facing danger and forming life long friendships. Over the years I haven't missed any of the movies, although I only started to read the books recently. What makes that series so beloved and unique? Why is it my favorite popular story, one which I love more than 'Lord of the rings”, “The Matrix”, “Star wars” or “Pirates of the Caribbean”?

The secret is that J. K. Rowling realized that her readers will grow, that with time they will mature. As they did, the characters followed. We saw Harry, Hermione and Ron falling in love for the first time, having disputes, facing tragedies and going through normal phases of life. Even though they live in magical world their lives never differed too much from ours. Kids and adults all over the world witnessed their adventures and related to them. Because in its heart “Harry Potter” was never about magic. It was about friendship, love, loyalty and sacrifice. And most of all – about making choices.
The second part of “Deathly Hallows” shows Harry, Hermione and Ron on their quest to destroy horcruxes – magical objects in which Voldemort hid parts of his soul. Only when they are destroyed he can be killed. Their quest continues during epic battle for Hogwarts, when Death Eaters attack the legendary school and all of our beloved characters try to stop them.

While part 1 had very flawed pacing part 2 is an extraordinary movie – things move fast, very rarely too fast. Apart from one short scene with Helena Ravenclaw (which I think could be cut down by a half and the movie would be much better) I was not bored for a second, whilst during part 1 I think I dozed off at one point. The movie races as fast as the spells shoot out of wands, but you can still follow the story. Still, I cannot understand why the last part and with all honesty, best part of the series was made into the shortest film. Some of the scenes, like duels between Snape and McGonagall and Molly Weasly and Bellatrix Lestrage really deserved to be longer.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 1

(146 min, 2010)

Director: David Yates
Writers: Steve Kloves (screenplay), J.K. Rowling (novel)
Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint

Eclipse.

Voldemort's power is growing stronger. He now has control over the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts. Harry, Ron, and Hermione decide to finish Dumbledore's work and find the rest of the Horcruxes to defeat the Dark Lord. But little hope remains for the Trio, and the rest of the Wizarding World, so everything they do must go as planned.

I've never been much of Harry Potter series fan. I only read one book and as enjoyable as it was, it's simply not my cup of tea. I found whole thing to be very childish and predictable. Having said that, there are some splendid ideas in the books and the world of magic, existing right next to ordinary one, is very interesting. I saw all of the movies, my favorite one being “Harry Potter and the Goblet of fire” thanks to easy to follow narration, lots of great scenes and the birth of the darkness that will define later movies.

As the series progressed and directors changed, beginning with “Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban” the movies became a little bit more dark. After very disappointing “Order of Phoenix” came my second favorite “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” with haunting musical score and beautiful sequences, especially interesting flashbacks. With each movie the formula changed a little and the unnerving habit of ending movie with a twist about one of the teachers being a villain stopped occurring. The improvement also came with terrific actors being involved in the series, with great Imelda Staunton and always deliciously creepy Helena Bonham Carter. Even the young actors showed more and more talent and feature my favorite performance form all the movies – lovely Evanna Lynch as fascinatingly strange Luna Lovegood.