On Friday, November 19, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One, the first half of the last installment in the Potter franchise premiered globally. Upon SAC’s announcement that they would be renting out a theater at the nearby Regal Cinemas, hundreds of students waited in line a few days before the movie’s release to obtain a coveted six-dollar ticket, which would guarantee them transportation and entrance to the midnight premiere of the movie.
The first students arrived an hour-and-a-half prior to the selling time and camped out on the second floor of Cro outside of the Office of Student Life. Some brought food to eat and homework to complete to pass the time – a few even read Harry Potter books. As time passed by, more and more Conn students began to arrive in hopes of obtaining tickets. Some created signs, including one which read, “Cut and die!”
Soon enough, one o’clock arrived, and hands began being stamped and names written down. There were easily over a couple hundred Harry Potter enthusiasts assembled on the second floor of Cro that afternoon.
Two days later, at 11PM on Thursday night, 200 students – many of them dressed in proper Hogwarts attire, complete with Gryffindor scarves and artificial lightning bolt scars – loaded into packed school buses which transported them to a theater marked “Conn College” on the marquee. After bum-rushing the doors and settling into seats, the long-awaited film finally began just a few minutes after the clock struck midnight.
The movie ended around 2:30 AM, at which point the satisfied – albeit tired – HP fans climbed back onto the buses to Conn, most of whom seemed extremely happy with Deathly Hallows.
Due to both the length of the seventh Harry Potter novel and the fact that the book is the culmination of the entire saga of books-turned-films, Warner Brothers Productions, director David Yates, screenwriter Steve Kloves and author Rowling decided to split the story in two parts. The second part is set to premiere in July 2011 in 3D. This decision enabled Yates and Kloves to better retain the integrity of Rowling’s storyline, as they did not have to cut out nearly as many parts as they had in previous films due to time constraints.
The first film to not take place in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Deathly Hallows: Part One possesses a different tone, which is characteristic of the plotline of finding and destroying horcruxes in pursuit of Harry’s enemy, the dark wizard Voldemort. Furthermore, this film also successfully incorporates a tasteful amount of comic relief and casual dialogue among the characters, something that the fifth and sixth films lack in this midst of their dark underlying plotlines.
The film begins with shots of Hermione, Harry, and Ron preparing for the journey that they have all anticipated would happen upon the murder of beloved Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore. This is appropriate, seeing as the heart of the seventh book is in the strong bonds of friendship between Harry and his two best friends. The action began right away after a humorous scene in which members of the Order of the Phoenix used the Polyjuice Potion to transform into clones of Harry as a means to smuggle him to safety.
However (SPOILER ALERT), with the deaths of Harry’s owl Hedwig and Auror Mad-Eye Moody, as well as the gory loss of George Weasley’s ear, viewers sensed an ominous reminder of the difficulties to come. Through shots within the recently-seized Ministry of Magic, run-ins with snatchers in the depths of faraway woods, Harry almost getting eaten alive by giant snake Nagini, betrayal by supposedly good men such as Mr. Lovegood, a horrifying episode with Bellatrix Lestrange and the Malfoy clan, the death of house-elf Dobby and Voldemort himself breaking into Dumbledore’s grave to retrieve the Elder Wand, the film certainly demonstrated the evil that Harry and the others are up against.
However, Ron’s rescue of Harry and return to the group, as well as a heartfelt, heroic speech by Dobby before bringing our heroes to safety, give viewers faith in Harry, Ron, and Hermione, even with the odds against them.
With the aid of new special effects, such as the animation playing during Hermione’s voiceover telling the story of the Deathly Hallows, and outstanding performances by Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, Deathly Hallows Part One is a polished, mature film that brings the first half of Rowling’s final edition to her epic series to the big screen in a way that Harry’s most faithful fans – including those of us at Conn – can enjoy. •
