Bea says: When friends suggested we join them to see this very popular new release, Cecil opted out immediately as he is no fan of Harry Potter. I, however, have been following the series since the publication of Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone in the 1990s. I haven't been quite as dedicated a follower of the films, but have seen most of them in a haphazard way, when I've been able to (Sunday afternoons on TV, or on long plane journeys).
Despite my dedication to the series, I haven't yet read the Deathly Hallows, even though it has been out for some years now. I think it's because I know it's the last Potter book ever, and somehow if I read it then I know it's definately ended. If I don't, then I know the last one is always there for me - for sometime in the future when I really, really feel the need to read a comforting book. Books are, except in a few very rare cases, so much better than films that seeing a film of a book first never bothers me - if I even vaguely enjoy a film I know I will love any book its taken from.
So the three of us, sans Cecil, headed up to Georgetown on the day after Thanksgiving to see Part One of the Deathly Hallows. And comforting is probably the least appropriate word to use about this story - it was dark, dark, dark and not very comforting at all. Even the usual comic relief (various Weasleys, the Hogwarts ghosts, Hagrid) were either deadly serious or absent entirely. The film was shot almost entirely in dark interiors or the blue light of northern England in winter. There was much action as usual - as Harry, Ron and Hermione evaded, sometimes not very successfully, capture from various minions of You-Know-Who. As the magical world of wizards and witches fell to these dark forces I couldn't help thinking about our own "muggle" world and the chaos we are in right now - if only we too had some cryptic messages from Dumbledore beyond the grave about how to get out of this mess...
The film ends at a point where it would seem that Harry, Ron and Hermione's cause is lost. We left the cinema feeling low and overwhelmed - one friend commented on how similar to the Lord of the Rings film sequence it felt, and I agree; it felt like watching The Two Towers; the dull blue darkness present throughout, the grim creatures in charge of the world and the sense that it would take some kind of miracle for hope to be restored.
I expect hope will be restored in Part Two, but there will be a long wait for it. And however it is restored, it will never be as light and carefree as The Philosopher's Stone again. That's ok - it's part of growing up, and growing older.
If you like the series, a must-see - but think twice before taking the kids.
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