By Jen Connors

I was ten years old when the first Harry Potter movie came out. I had gone through the books quickly, instantly falling in love with the world J.K. Rowling had envisioned. Now, nearly ten years later, the books have ended and the time has come for the films to come to an end. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I was released at midnight last night, signifying both the end of an era and our childhoods.
Walking into the theater, roughly two hours before the movie actually began, you could feel the energy instantly. It was a kind of energy that can’t be matched at a game or a concert, the kind that is only achieved when something is a cornerstone of a generation. There were people decked out in full Hogwarts uniforms, others in homemade T-shirts, people in regular clothing, and not a single person looked unhappy to be there. The movie opened to cheers from the crowd, many of whom had been there even longer than we had.


The film itself is darker than the rest of the series, to be expected due to the dark nature of the book. Families are torn apart, friendships suffer damage, innocent people die. The golden trio of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger have abandoned their studies at Hogwarts to find and destroy Voldemort’s six Horcruxes, fragments of his soul implanted in objects significant to him. Their friendship, which has seen some ups and downs over six years, reaches a low point when Ron abandons the Horcrux effort after months of searching. From that point until (SPOILER ALERT) Ron’s return, Harry and Hermione’s always solid friendship is strained.
After widely exploring the romantic lives of the characters in the sixth film, their relationships are still a major plot point of Hallows, though not as explored as in films past. Ron and Hermione still have a chemistry that neither character is willing to act on, a tension there throughout the two-and-a-half hour movie. Harry and Ginny share a brief kiss near the beginning. The main focus is on friendship, however, with the majority of the film showing the trio traveling from place to place on their quest. One of my personal favorite scenes was one not in the book between Harry and Hermione. Soon after Ron left, the remaining two were sitting in tense, sad silence, with only the radio breaking the silence. Harry went to Hermione and began to dance. It was the perfect thing to lighten the mood, a moment for the two characters to appreciate the friendship and company of one another.
\Despite the film’s dark storyline, there are definitely comedic elements incorporated in the dialogue. When six of his friends transform into Harry clones to transport him to a safe house past the Death Eaters, one tells a Weasley to look away, stating that she was “hideous.” Rupert Grint, always a source of comedic value with his delivery, gets to steal scenes frequently.  The return of house elf Dobby will bring both tears of laughter and sorrow to the experience.

After the harrowing final minutes of the film, I left the theater feeling old. The books came out when I was seven, the movies when I was ten. These characters have been there for my entire childhood and adolescence, practically defining my formative years. After the books ended when I was nearly seventeen, the promise of two more movies seemed like something that could be spread out. With another movie added, the definitive end to my childhood has been delayed until next July, but the end of this film felt like a door closing. There was nothing I would change about this movie, from the cinematography to the perfect casting and the eloquent writing, but beware of tears and a cliffhanger when you see it. I for one cannot wait to see Part II of this cinematographic masterpiece, but as a stand-alone, Part I is definitely my favorite of the series, and the truest to the books.