Hoary Pooter strikes again

For reassurance when casting a teen drama, those in charge of the auditions tended to place greater weight on acting ability than age, avoiding all the pitfalls of compromising the thesp’s schoolwork and any callowness derived from immaturity. Hence in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, one of the actors was portraying a character almost half her age, while many of her colleagues were far from being minors, stretching visual credibility for the purpose of good and hassle-free recital.
The child stars of Harry Potter initially seemed to buck this trend, all being recruited at the age of 11 and meant to age in lockstep with their onscreen personas but the ideal of producing one film every year was not faithfully kept. J K Rowling could get away with it as her medium was words, not pictures (an action that failed to mollify the more ardent fans). Thus Daniel Radcliffe et al are not the ages they pretend to be anymore (though it hasn’t damaged Tom Cruise’s career) and it shows, but not ridiculously so.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is divided into two parts. Everyone deludes themselves that this is because there was so much content in the last book, it would result in a bladder-breaking experience (popping out to the toilet is not what you paid for your ticket), which as with all the best delusions has a hint of truth in it. If this was the case then Part2 would be shown in January once Part 1 had left the multiplexes, not next summer. The division is Hollywood’s way of clawing every last dime out of a franchise coming to an end and so Part 2’s release will coincide with the DVD release of Part 1, as well as garnering extra revenue in its own right, by being all the more keenly anticipated.
The first Harry Potter movies were largely self-contained tales but HPATDH Pt 1, as with its immediate predecessor, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, thumbs its nose at the convention for sequels, serving instead as preludes to the instalment after. This leads to this penultimate film emerging as a slow-burn, building to an atmospheric crescendo, engaging you to tune in next time. Characterisation and moods are foremost as the scriptwriters have more time to play then having to cram a whole novel into the confines of a movie, with all being set against some striking (and, on certain occasions, unexpected) scenery). A few set pieces of genuine dramatic tension keep the proceedings rolling and, as in any war, characters on both sides fall in the conflict. The presiding theme over much of the land is Orwellian, 1984 (a critique of British attitudes as much as more obviously totalitarian states) fitted out for 2010. There is an ironic twist in a witch-hunt here where in the show trial those deemed not to be a witch are prosecuted and, ultimately, executed. And amid all the sword-and-sorcery, Christianity is obliquely recognised, yet all questions about its compatibility with even the ‘good’ magic on show are not even acknowledged, in keeping with Rowling’s world view.
Those of a more perceptive nature may recognise that given the persecutions occurring, the title of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince gives a clue as to how the denouement will turn out. Even though the plot is not very coherent, it wends and weaves a charming spell and certainly whets the appetite for the final instalment.