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The midnight bookstore parties are all in the past, and, with the opening of the first half of the film adaptation of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” an extraordinary pop-culture cycle is on the verge of completion.
 
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (2010)
Posted on: 11/19/10
 Time for Young Wizards to Put Away Childish Things
In this chapter their adventures have an especially somber and scary coloration, as the three friends are cast out from the protective cocoon of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry into a bleak, perilous grown-up world that tests the independence they have struggled to obtain under the not-always-benevolent eyes of their teachers. Childish things have been put away — this time there is no quidditch, no school uniforms, no schoolboy crushes or classroom pranks — and adult supervision has all but vanished. Albus Dumbledore is dead, and though Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) and Alastor Mad-Eye Moody (Brendan Gleeson) offer some assistance early on, Harry and his companions must rely on the kindness of house elves, on their own newly mastered wizarding skills and, above all, on one another. This is not always so easy. The implicit rivalry for Hermione’s favor that has always simmered between Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and Ron (Rupert Grint) bubbles to the surface, as does Ron’s resentment at being the Chosen One’s sidekick. The burden of chosenness weighs on Harry as well; it is easier for him to accept being singled out for death by Lord Voldemort than to countenance the willingness of his allies and protectors to sacrifice their lives for him. Hermione (Emma Watson), for her part, seems lonelier than ever. She has broken entirely with her Muggle parents, expunging herself from their memories to prevent them from being caught up in an increasingly vicious intrawizard civil war For most of this film Voldemort’s forces are very much in the ascendant. The production design is dense with visual allusions to 20th-century totalitarianism, while the battered and dispersed good guys carry some of the romance of guerrilla resistance, taking to the countryside and living rough as they search for weak spots in their enemy’s strategy. They also pop into nonmagical neighborhoods of London, visits that add a jolt of realism to this fantasy. The brilliant composer Alexandre Desplat has constructed a haunting, spooky sonic atmosphere with only an occasional splash of youthful whimsy.
The movie, in other words, belongs solidly to Mr. Radcliffe, Mr. Grint and Ms. Watson, who have grown into nimble actors, capable of nuances of feeling that would do their elders proud. One of the great pleasures of this penultimate “Potter” movie is the anticipation of stellar post-“Potter” careers for all three of them. While there is still one more film to go (Part 2 is scheduled for release in July), this one manages to be both a steppingstone and a reasonably satisfying experience in its own right. Some plot elements are handled with busy, “DaVinci Code”-like mumbo jumbo as the three friends must hunt down not only a bunch of horcruxes, but also the mysterious objects alluded to in the title. The deathly hallows at least provide the occasion for a lovely animated sequence, much as the inevitable preliminary battle scenes allow for episodes of explosive wand work. Even though it ends in the middle, “Deathly Hallows: Part 1” finds notes of anxious suspense and grave emotion to send its characters, and its fans, into the last round. The sorrow you experience may well be a premonition of the imminent end of a long and, for the most part, delightful relationship. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). Dark arts, rough magic. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 Opens on Friday nationwide COMMENTS
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