Written by Sarah Kyle
It was with much anticipation and many expectations that I went to see the seventh installment of the Harry Potter series: “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.” After watching the preceding movies and engaging in deep conversations about the technicalities and expectations of the “beginning of the end” for the series, I saw the movie not once, but twice, before writing this review.For those of you who haven’t seen the film yet or don’t know much about the preceding movies, warning: This review could contain some spoilers. Proceed with caution and do not flood my inbox with hate mail about how I ruined the movie.The movie picks up where “Half-Blood Prince” left off: Dumbledore, the grand patriarch of Hogwarts, is dead. With bittersweet resolution, Harry and his dynamic duo of Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger have become the wizarding equivalent of high school dropouts so they can fight the evil Lord Voldemort.The movie opens with a scene of heartbreak as Hermione tearfully removes herself from her parents’ memories, an attempt to protect them should Voldemort and his Death Eaters come knocking. While this scene unfolded a little differently than alluded to in the novel, I found it an effective way to show the cost of their quest. Harry’s parting with the aunt and uncle of his nightmares was slightly less poetic. While the novel gave a glimpse of Harry parting with his cousin Dudley (a section I thought added a lot more dimension to their relationship), I was disappointed that the movie series has left this evolution out, making it necessary to remove the scene from “Deathly Hallows.”Other alterations included a slightly more glorified death of Hedwig, Harry’s beloved snowy owl. While in the book Hedwig died in her cage, the movie gave her the last dying glory of trying to protect Harry when Death Eaters attacked. This was one change I did approve of because it shows the special relationship between Harry and the pet he has had since he realized his calling as a wizard.Overall, I was pleased with this installment of “Harry Potter.” By splitting the book into two cinematic sections, I think the filmmaking team was able to include much more depth than has been allowed in previous movies. The true telling of whether they included everything that needs to be included to wrap up the series will be the release of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” this summer.I would like to take a moment to talk about perhaps the most controversial scene in the movie: the Harry-Hermione kiss. When I say kiss, I more mean highly risqué make-out session with a fog censor bar. The scene comes just after Ron has returned to the gang after a brief self-inflicted separation. Harry and Ron are destroying a Horcrux (a piece of Voldemort’s soul that is housed in an object, a locket in this case) when out comes the silvery rendition of Harry and Hermione taunting Ron and invading his worst fears and insecurities.I feel that this scene, as played out in the movie as a completely adult version, was an unnecessary dramatization of the book’s depiction. What was supposed to be a merely passionate kiss became something very real and what could be termed as “Harding-inappropriate.”Also slightly scandalous was the rather mature depiction of Ginny Weasley’s attraction for Harry. Maybe my mental image of her from the books has been off all of these years, but I wasn’t expecting a bare-backed Ginny to ask our dear Harry to completely zip up her dress.However, this scene was saved by the always humorous George Weasley staring with a grin as a toothbrush stuck out of his recent head injury.Aside from this, I highly recommend this movie to any current Harry Potter fanatics or even the casual moviegoer.
