HP DH Pt. Two All-Encompassing Analysis FIVE

We do now arrive at another shortcoming on Kloves's part.  We get the tiniest acknowledgement of Percy's betrayal of his own family in Order of the Phoenix when Percy assists in the makeshift trial Harry receives for creating Dumbledore's Army.  It's never mentioned again.  Consequently, we never get the tears Mrs. Weasley sheds for his absence or the emotional reunion in the Room of Requirement where Percy apologizes earnestly.  Fred calls him a "ministry loving, family-disowning, power-hungry moron" and Percy agrees.  (He DOES come back, but nobody really notices or cares.)  Later, then, when Percy is dueling Pius Thicknesse, Fred is thrilled to hear Percy make a joke.  Fred muses over this with a smile on his face before he's killed.  The movie had him cowering in a corner.  That's not how Fred Weasley went.  Ever the jokester, he died laughing.

The journey that Ron, Hermione, and Harry take to go find Voldemort is executed well, also shows the destruction I mentioned and does definite justice to the epic Battle of Hogwarts.  (Unlike the final scenes of Half Blood Prince, in which there is supposed to be a battle as the Death Eaters and Draco escape, this movie accurately covers the war.)  The giants, suits of armor, acromantulas, and Fenrir Greyback devouring poor Lavender each made the appearances they were supposed to.  I like that Kloves had Aberforth's patrons (goat) save Harry, Ron, and Hermione instead of Ernie, Luna, and Seamus (boar, hare, and fox).  Aberforth still has faith after all.  I'd have liked to see the animal patronuses come back but I suppose a goat doesn't appear as effective as a giant silver shield would, plus a goat could be confused with Snape's doe.  So I do accept this change.  Moving on, I'm confused about why Voldemort's chilling in a boathouse, but if they thought the Shrieking Shack required too much explaining, I'll go with it.  Snape's death, God Bless him, was done elegantly and cruelly, with blood splattering all over the windows.  Snape's last moments were done excellently, and I thought it was a very nice touch to have the memories come out as tears.  He also finally tells Harry that he has his mother's eyes, something we don't hear often enough in the movies, and a very poignant point for those who know what's coming in The Prince's Tale.  Hats off to David Yates and Steve Kloves for some very well- orchestrated scenes here.

When Voldemort calls his troops out of battle, Harry, Ron, and Hermione walk through the Great Hall and observe those who gave their lives in battle (rest in peace, Lavender, Fred, Remus, and Tonks).  Harry then proceeds upstairs to observe the memories.  I do like the line in the book when Harry notes that nothing left to him, even by Snape, could make him feel worse than he already did.  I was and still am very impressed by the movie portrayal of the Prince’s Tale.  The scenes as kids, though abridged and altered, came off as full of that lighthearted magic kids are inherently capable of.  The memories that show Snape coming to the Order’s side of the war and his anguish for Lily’s death are excellent for Alan Rickman’s range as an actor.  My heart breaks with his, though I am a bit weirded out by his hugging her limp body.  I’d have liked to see the scene at the Yule Ball where Snape tells Dumbledore he is not as much a coward as Karkaroff is and will not flee from the strengthening Dark Mark.  Dumbledore calls Snape brave by saying that he wonders if they Sort kids too early.  Snape then looks absolutely stricken at the suggestion of being placed in Gryffindor.  I’m just being picky, though.  The moment when Dumbledore asks “After all this time?” and Snape answers “Always,” is perfect.  That’s when I start crying and never really stop.  The way Severus’s voice breaks on “Expecto Patronum,” a gossamer doe prances through the air, and a tear rolls down his face make the viewer feel the terrible pain that can result from such strong love.  Of course, the message is clear: love is so worth fighting for.  This scene brings Harry terrible news, but is so, so well done.  

I repeat, the tears continue at this point.  Although he isn’t supposed to say goodbye to Ron and Hermione, his stream of consciousness and reasons not to would have been difficult to explain in the movie.  For the purposes of translating a novel into a screenplay, it kind of works that Hermione realized Harry had a piece of Voldemort in him, and that Harry had begun to notice as well.  I’m not crazy about it, but the movie rather needs it.  The goodbye is emotional, though I can only surmise that Ron hung back from Harry out of disbelief, confusion, and subconscious fear.  Harry’s walk into the forest is precisely correct.  Again, we lose his stream of consciousness and the way he remembers the snitch, but it’s easier to remember the snitch’s message from a movie and a half ago than to remember it from six hundred pages ago.  Going along with this issue of being unable to express a stream of consciousness, we do miss Harry's reminiscences of past time in the forest or in Hagrid's hut, but flashbacks of that sort may have seemed cheesy, plus they were done in ORder of the Phoenix.  The Resurrection Stone Scene is exactly as I envisioned it the first and every subsequent time I’ve read Deathly Hallows.  I recall curling up on my sofa, sobbing into the book, leaving the pages crinkled with tears.  (Unrelated and not cannon, but this is cute in a tragic way.)  The way Remus, Sirius, James, and Lily speak with Harry makes me do the same.  It may not be directly because of the scene in the movie, but also because I understand the influence each of these characters has in Harry’s understanding of what he must do and why on a different level.  I’ve spent so many years reading and reflecting on these books that they are an unbelievable combination of historically true and the stuff of legend.  And yet, perhaps that’s precisely what the film meant to do.  It means a different amount to different people. The truth of the matter is that not everyone will interpret this film the same way.  This scene will have to mean more to those whose hearts are ready for it to mean more.  To conclude: I love this scene.

Harry's death was as cold and unceremonious as it needed to be.  It still hurts to think about how scared I was when I first read it.  The King's Cross scene went generally well.  Clothes and glasses were relatively insignificant details.  The shattered piece of Voldemort's soul was sickly and sickening as it needed to be.  Harry's dialogue with Dumbledore took many direct lines, but lacked Dumbledore's whimsical, charming character.  We miss a ton of Dumbledore's family history and, again, more on why this matters can be found in the pros and cons list to follow.  My favorite line made it in: "Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on Earth should that mean that it is not real?" This validates the whole series for me.  Even if it's not written down in history books and there's no proof anywhere that anything happened, it certainly happened anyway, if only in our minds.