| CultureWatch DVD Review - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince |
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Wow, hasn’t he grown? Harry Potter has grown up a great deal in the last few years since we first met him. And so  have the films themselves. The first two Harry Potter films may have been very faithful to the books, but their stiff acting, poor effects and inferior direction left them feeling rather dull. Under David Yates’s assured direction, the latest episode is what Harry Potter films should be like, and is only bettered by Alfonso Cuarón’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Each instalment, though, becomes darker than the one before as J.K. Rowling’s epic story builds towards its incredible climax. Storm clouds brood over the film in every sense. Many of the scenes are gloomy and grey, with a palpable menace hanging in the air. It makes the few bright scenes particularly important to give viewers some welcome relief. These lighter scenes mostly focus on the adolescent romantic turmoil of the Hogwarts students. Raging teenage hormones and powerful love-potions combine to provide much-needed humour, counterbalancing the terrifying central plot line. The darkness constantly reminds us of the threat facing Harry’s world thanks to the rise of the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters. Harry faces the most danger, but everything good is under threat from this unspeakable evil. Anyone who sides with good rather than evil, with truth and freedom rather than lies and oppression, faces attack and even death. Nevertheless, Professor Dumbledore and his friends remain determined to fight evil, whatever the cost. They appear to face impossible odds, yet Dumbledore is driven by a conviction that good will ultimately triumph over evil. This assurance springs from his belief that there is, as in The Chronicles of Narnia, a deeper magic – a good magic – that evil cannot conquer or even understand.  This idea comes directly from a Christian view of the world. We do live in a dark world, where evil powers are at work. There are times when we feel that everything good is under threat. But the Bible assures us that God will triumph. It promises us that when his son Jesus Christ died and rose again, he won the decisive victory over evil. The day when it will be finally destroyed is still to come, and that should give us courage to fight evil in our world now, regardless of the personal cost. This article was first published on Damaris’ Culturewatch website (www.culturewatch.org) – used with permission. Copyright © Tony Watkins Harry Potter characters, names and related indicia are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. Ent. All Rights Reserved. |
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