Harry Potter Films

Behind the Door/Artwork by Kate Dorsey

    There have been a lot of Harry Potter marathons on TV these past several months.  Sometimes I watch.  Sometimes I don’t.  Sometimes I’ll watch one particular film, while other times I’ll watch another.  It really depends on how I feel at the moment.  In any case, I end up watching a lot of Harry Potter.

    Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) is a boy who discovers he is a wizard on his 11^th birthday.  He lives with awful relatives, and finds it a great relief to go off to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  It is here Harry meets his two best friends, Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) and Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint).  Together, through seven years of school and eight films, these three friends work together to survive school and take down the infamous villain, Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes).

    These three have to survive school in more than the traditional sense.  Yes, they have schoolwork and bullies to worry about (thank you, Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton)), they also have to worry about actual survival.

    In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (or Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, depending on where you live in the world), a spell is put on Harry’s broom during a Quidditch (a sport played on brooms) match.  An act, that if Hermione had not intervened, could have ended Harry’s life.  They must also try and save the Philosopher’s stone, a stone for immortality, a professor working for Voldemort wants.

    Chamber of Secrets (yes, I am shortening the titles a bit) has Hermione and other students petrified (similar to being turned to stone).  To help save her and the school, Harry must fight off a giant serpent called a Basilisk.  As someone who can speak to snakes, Harry is the most qualified person to do so.  He certainly cannot rely on the very inept Professor Gilderoy Lockhart (Kenneth Branagh).                    

    Dementors, creatures who essentially suck out your soul, are the concern in Prisoner of Azkaban.  As is Sirius Black (Gary Oldman), an escapee from Azkaban prison.  To make matters even more stressful, Sirius is Harry’s godfather, and the man suspected of betraying Harry’s parents’ location twelve years earlier to Voldemort, leading to their deaths.

    Participating in the Triwizard Tournament is a dangerous enough task in Goblet of Fire.  With dragons and loved ones held hostage underwater, there really isn’t any more anyone should have to deal with.  Except there is.  Add in someone creating a direct path to Voldemort, and Harry has a real problem on his hands.             

    Just as the Triwizard Tournament should have been all anyone had to handle in Goblet of Fire, surviving Professor Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton) should have been the only concern in Order of the Phoenix.  Professor Umbridge is so awful, I have a hard time watching this film.  At least I do until Fred and George Weasley (James Phelps and Oliver Phelps) make their grand escape.  On top of the horrors Professor Umbridge inflicts, Harry must also battle with Voldemort trying to infiltrate his mind.        

    Helping Headmaster Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon, played by Richard Harris in the first two films) find Horcruxes (items containing pieces of Voldemort’s soul) is the task in Half-Blood Prince.  To do this, Harry must extract an altered memory from Professor Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent).  Harry is also determined to figure out what Draco is up to, as he is acting more suspicious than usual.           

    The two Deathly Hallows films has Harry, Hermione, and Ron trying to find the remaining horcruxes so they can take down Voldemort.  They are probably in the most danger in these films as they are on their own.  Leaving school to perform their search, they no longer have teachers to protect them.  In fact, the school itself isn’t as safe as it once was, as the school and the Ministry of Magic have been taken over by Voldemort’s followers.

    Those are really fast summaries of the eight films.  So much more happens in all of them, with plenty of storylines, characters, and details I have not mentioned.  There are characters to like and to dislike, and there are characters to dislike but for some reason I like them anyways.

    Professor Minerva McGonagall (Maggie Smith) is one of my favorite characters.  She is the Head of Gryffindor House, therefore in charge of the students residing in that house, including Harry, Ron, and Hermione.  She is a strict and caring woman, with some great lines to startle people out of what they assume she will say.  These lines are even better because they are delivered by the wonderful Maggie Smith.

    Neville Longbottom (Matthew Lewis) is another favorite character of mine.  He is in the same class as Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and is also part of Gryffindor House.  Even though he is a bit of an outcast, Neville is still friends with the main three characters, and becomes friends with others, including Ron’s sister Ginny (Bonnie Wright) and Ravenclaw House student Luna Lovegood (Evanna Lynch).  As Neville grows older, he becomes more confident in himself, and plays a big part in taking down Voldemort.

    Since I’ve already mentioned Luna, I will talk about her next.  Very different from everyone else, Luna is definitely an outcast.  The other students in her house aren’t very nice to her, but she doesn’t let that change who she is.  She keeps with her more mystical beliefs about the world, even when others don’t agree.  A very caring girl, over time, Luna becomes friends with people in Gryffindor house despite being part of Ravenclaw.

    Professor Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) is one of those characters you’re supposed to dislike, but it is really hard to do so.  Especially as the series goes on and so much is learned about him.  A lot of this may be because of how Alan Rickman plays him.  The more I watch this series, the more I appreciate Mr. Rickman’s acting ability.  He speaks and holds himself in such a way that feels perfect for this character.  Even his little gestures are just right.  In fact, one of my favorite scenes in the entire series is in Goblet of Fire, when Snape adjusts his cuffs before “reprimanding” Harry and Ron during a study period.  I love that scene, and it is very sad to know Mr. Rickman is gone.

    There are other characters I like as well.  Most of the Weasley family (not Percy (Chris Rankin)), Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) the gamekeeper, and Professor Filius Flitwick (Warwick Davis), amongst others.

    I must admit, I am not a huge Dumbledore fan.  I’m not anti-Dumbledore.  I simply like other characters better.

    Which brings me to two more characters I should mention: Lucius Malfoy (Jason Isaacs) and Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter).  These two are not characters to cheer for, but the actors who portray them do so so beautifully, it is hard not to like them.

    With so much going on in these films, it is really easy to miss something.  Especially if that something is happening in the background.  And there is a lot that happens in the background.  Moving pictures, students wandering around, spells being cast.  I love the stories of these films, but some day it might be good to look past it, and just watch the background.  There might be more story there than I ever realized before.