Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 1 (Daniel Radcliffe)

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Our re-watching of the Harry Potter DVDs is coming to a close, as we embarked on the first of the ‘Deathly Hallows’ films last night. It’s dark, it’s action-packed, and it’s stressful. I had forgotten quite how much, though it’s less than six years since we first saw ‘Deathly Hallows part 1’. 

The plot follows the story in the book fairly closely; the fact that it was turned into two films rather than one allows for most of the book to be included. And it’s rather a bleak story. Harry, Ron and Hermione know that they’re not going back to Hogwarts this year. They also know their families may be in danger. Harry in particular must be protected, and one of the early sequences sees a race to get him from his relatives’ home in London to the safety of the Weasleys’ home. 

There are injuries and a loss, but everyone has to prepare for a wedding. It goes ahead, with a brief interlude where Harry, Ron and Hermione are each given a slightly puzzling bequest from Professor Dumbledore. Bill Nighy is excellent as the new Minister for Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour. Not that he has much of a role after this; the wedding is interrupted by the news that Voldemort has taken over the Ministry of Magic. 

Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and his friends know they have to set out to hunt for the remaining horcruxes, all of which have to be destroyed. It’s not explained in this film what horcruxes are; it’s expected that viewers will have seen the earlier films, or at least the sixth, ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’. Although each book (and film) stands along to some extent, there’s a huge story arc that runs from start to finish, and it’s much better, in my view, to read or see them in order. 

The friendship of the three is tried many times as they embark on what appears, at times, to be an impossible quest. They escape potential assassins, and manage to get hold of one known horcrux but have no idea how to destroy it. And keeping it with them leads them, one at a time, to become very grumpy.  Hermione (Emma Watson) is highly organised, and keeps their locations secret, but Harry gets more and more fed up, and Ron becomes jealous. Rupert Grint as Ron has a wonderfully expressive face. 

There are battles, and escapes, and fear… there are also some more poignant moments of injuries, and a very sad loss near the end of the film. It’s all extremely well done, in my view, with the pace about right. It doesn’t rush through, but it also doesn’t pause for a long time for scenic shots. I found the fast-action scenes too stressful to watch, so closed my eyes; I probably avoided watching about a quarter or even a third of the film, just listening for the spells and sound effects. 

As for the 'deathly hallows' of the title, those are briefly explained in this film, as three legendary items that formed part of a children's story.  Possessing all three would enable the owner to defeat death entirely. Most people, apparently, did not realise that they were real.

It’s a good thing I’m familiar with the storyline or I would have found it quite confusing. But today’s teenagers (and those who first saw it when it was first made n 2010) are more used to rapid action, in modern films and computer games. I did wonder, a couple of times, if I should stop watching and skim the book again instead; but I kept sitting there, reminding myself that although this is just part one, and it ends on a dramatic and worrying scene, there’s part two still to come.

The rating of 12 is appropriate; the violence and some gore would be very disturbing to a sensitive child, and while the bad language is mild, there’s one scene, as part of a hallucination, that has implied nudity. I’m not sure I’d recommend this film as I think the book is so much better, but for those who prefer not to read, and who have seen the earlier films, this (and its sequel) form a worthy conclusion to the series. 

Review copyright 2023 Sue's DVD Reviews