David Yates
Harry Potter E I Doni Della Morte: Parte 2

Going to see a Harry Potter movie is, for me, an event that remains somehow special. After all, the trio of main actors is practically the same age as me: ten years ago, at the time of the first chapter of the saga projected on the screen, they were kids just like I was, and we grew up together. For this reason, and also because I devoured all the books from the fourth onwards, the magical savior has always held a special attraction for me. However, cinema, compared to the texts, has described, in my opinion, a mirroring trajectory: while I think the later books by Rowling are better than the earlier ones, in the film world, the opposite happens. To be honest, from the third film onwards there has been an inexorable decline, and dear Mr. David Yates has never gotten it right. This final chapter is no exception.

You all will remember the highly heart-wrenching finale of the seventh film, when Voldemort desecrates Dumbledore's tomb and Harry seethes with rage over the death of poor elf Dobby (the face of Daniel Radcliffe should be a mask of pain, but instead, he looks like he's struggling over a toilet). So we pick up from there, and I'll keep it short as much as possible: our three heroes go to Gringotts to retrieve the fourth Horcrux, and everything goes haywire; they return to Hogwarts (in Hogsmeade, to be precise) and another mess happens; they enter the school, and guess what? Exactly, another mess unfolds! After this dramatic succession of events, between rides on white dragons and the acquaintance of a rough yokel (Aberforth Dumbledore), the final battle starts to loom: yes, because Voldemort is pissed off...worse than his "snake" (Nagini), he's discovered the scarred one's plan and wants to end it once and for all. As an apocalyptic war rages, between giants, enchanted armor, wizards, and Acromantula, Hermione also eliminates the fifth Horcrux, but one remains—in theory—still remaining. Our heroes head to the boathouse, where they witness Nagini's snack at the expense of the poor Snape and in the name of the Death Stick; blood stains the windows, the scene is highly dramatic, and tears laden with shocking revelations flow from Severus' eyes...

I'll pause for a moment for some considerations, before getting into the details of the final scenes. Firstly, the matter of the trio of teenage stars. So, Daniel Radcliffe offers us a masterful performance, showing us how one can steal the screen with more or less just one expression; however, he is not Clint Eastwood, and I doubt he ever will be. Maybe ten years ago he was the spitting image of the chosen wizard, now he's just a silly puppet with a big head. The other two adventure companions are this time (as is naturally the case, after all) decidedly in the background, although they are already better (it doesn’t take much): there’s the redhead Rupert Grint, a hothead with easy wisecracks, a distant relative of the tender lad of once, now ready for a bouncer role in the next film with Bruce Willis, and then there’s Emma Watson, as usual the most convincing, a splendid and lively girl, one of the few elements justifying the ticket price. Mind you, there are indeed good actors (an excellent Alan Rickman who finally was able to unleash all his talent, a Maggie Smith always in good shape, two excellent Ralph Fiennes and, to a lesser extent, Helena Bonham Carter), but the crowd of kids storming the theaters to enjoy the movie barely acknowledges them, only those three matter.

I’m only coming to the end now because it seemed appropriate to make the necessary clarifications first. So, Harry sees in the Pensieve Snape's salient memories (and here Rickman’s performance deserves applause) and understands that he must go and die. One would expect a face deformed by terror, perhaps even by anger, or petrified; and instead, no, of course not, if only. And from here on, it’s a real mess. Potter goes to the Forbidden Forest, and Voldemort kills him...or so it seems. In fact, as per the book, the Survivor wakes up in a mysterious dream-like world, where he finds Dumbledore. Now, this sequence is truly pathetic: a lack of emotion, poor dialogues, but most notably, the absence of Albus' account of his dark past. Hagrid, later the good half-giant who had been tied to a tree, carries Harry's apparent corpse—still alive, in reality—toward the school, followed by Voldemort and his entourage toward the school. Everything seems lost, especially when that fool Neville decides to be the hero, but perhaps there is still hope...

I don’t reveal too much because maybe someone doesn’t know the whole story and wants to enjoy the right suspense (although I believe everyone knows the general course of events), I’ll just tell you that the final scene, with the three bathed in sunlight, is one of the most embarrassing moments I have ever witnessed. And I wasn’t even convinced by the “19 years later” section, with a Watson too youthful to seem a 36-year-old woman and a truly banal conclusion.

This eighth chapter thus presents many flaws, even leaving aside Radcliffe’s limited acting skills: a screenplay by Steve Kloves too bold in altering (I should say “ruining”?) some even essential fragments and adding new ones (for example, the pointless sky fight between the two antagonists), the usual debatable direction, sequences with great emotional potential but rendered poorly, and I didn’t like at all the dubbing of Alessio Puccio (the Italian voice of Harry). I save something because the film, like the book, conveys an important message (the reference to Nazism, an inhuman horror that is overcome only with love and unity, is clear); some special effects are well placed and there's a good pace in the second part, but we're still not there. Considering that watching it in 3D risks even further disappointment, it’s a 5/10. Watching the screening with a theater packed full of idiotic kids certainly didn’t help me.