Don't read this post if you haven't seen the movie. I'm serious. I want you to walk into the theatre and actually enjoy the movie. Then you can come back and see my critique, see if you agree or disagree with me. That's fine. Just go watch the movie. Go on... now.
Okay, now that you've spent a couple of hours in that dark, cool movieplex, what did you think?
Here's what I think: I loved the movie as a movie. It's not as cinematically creative as Prisoner of Azkaban or as inclusive of the story and the details of the novel as Deathly Hallows, Part One. And the inclusion of "Voldemort's Wild Ride" around Hogwarts, primarily for the 3-D audiences, in place of the actual denouement J.K. Rowling wrote... that made me a little sad. But I loved how they handled the destruction of the castle, the weaving together of so many loose threads, and the conclusion of Snape's story was appropriately heartbreaking. I was so thankful that they gave due weight to his loss and redemption.
And actually, that is my main critique of the movie. I fear that the true element of redemption may have been lost from this film. There is a line Dumbledore says to Harry in the King's Cross station, as he and Harry are discussing what Dumbledore knew as he encouraged Harry to move towards the moment of his own death. Dumbledore understands some past thought or deed as a mistake. Harry tries to encourage his friend and mentor, but Dumbledore's response is to say, "Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and above all, those who live without love."
It's a beautiful line - and it made it into the movie. And there was some line about words and art that I need to find, it's original to the film, but was lovely. And then the scene was over.
It's later, when in the book Harry and Voldemort have met in the Great Hall and are preparing for death. Harry, having understood the true weight of Dumbledore's words, says to Voldemort, "Its your one last chance," said Harry, "it's all you've got left.... I've seen what you'll become otherwise.... Be a man... try... Try for some remorse...."
This line did not make it into the film. Or anything like it. And I wonder... is it a mistake? An oversight? Intentional? I don't know. I won't even try to conjecture a reason, other than time and medium. But it made me sad to see such a beautiful moment lost. Harry, who knows very well the loss and pain and suffering he and others have received from Voldemort's hands, offers that man redemption in the moments before his death. What the film portrays is vengeance, getting it over with so that everyone can move on with their lives. What the book portrays is love shaping a young man's heart so much so that even in the face of death, in the face of destruction and hell, he still offers nothing less than the possibility of redemption. Of change.
I find this an interesting omission because I suspect that we really don't like the idea of redemption. We don't like the idea that someone we really don't like could change... that there might be even the smallest chance for them to see the error of their ways. Can you imagine if in that moment Voldemort had dropped his wand, given Harry an odd little look, and maybe that last little remnant of his soul would have shuddered to realize the evil he had perpetrated?
Of course, he did not do that. Rowling also understands the way evil destroys and blinds; she writes that Voldemort's reaction was to think that this notion of remorse was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard. Yet... what would we have done if he had changed? Can we enter into the emotions and expectations Harry feels when he uttered those words? I don't think they are hollow, or empty of pity and hope that something might be different, anxious to offer something different from hate and power.
And the honest truth is that I can't quite enter into those words; that's why they have stuck in my head. Were I to say them, they would be empty. Were I to offer the hope of remorse and change, it would be obligatory, hardly coming from my heart. Maybe that's why this one line didn't make the cut; maybe we don't get it. Maybe that's the beauty of what Harry Potter can teach us. Love... real, sacrificial love, can change us. It can change us so deeply that we will want to offer redemption even to those who are our mortal enemies.
No comments:
Post a Comment