Professor Umbridge mutilates Harry by using her magic pen… Please read the review below to find out more.
Harry Potter and The Order Of The Phoenix
- movie review.
Warning: Movie spoilers.
It is an awesome movie. I take off my hat to the British film makers.
The movie starts with a solitary Harry sitting alone at a swing, in the
playground, deep in nostalgia over his lost childhood. The usual gang of 5
juvenile delinquents show up, intent at bullying the lone sheep. Harry is
provoked beyond his limits but before he can lose his control over his wand and
spell, the heavens speak and interfere. The sky is darkly overcast, strong
winds blow, like as if a hale was brewing. In short, the omniscient powers
talk.
Harry and the bully run for their lives. They seek temporary shelter in a
tunnel. They are cornered there. We see that the weather was a trap to bait
them into the mousetrap; which is actually the tunnel. This bit
of plot is the British parody recalled and reworked. It resurrects elements of
Agatha Christie’s famous novel dramatization; The Mousetrap. Leave it to the
British to show loyalty and unity in supporting their compatriots.
The two boys are attacked in the tunnel by flying, black colored ghouls who
look like mummified zombies. The monsters hold the boys in death like
strangling vice gripes and seem to suck the life force out of them via the
mouths. Harry struggles to reach for his wand tucked into his pocket and he
manages to do so! He zaps his prosecutor and sees his enemy flat out on the
ground, pinned and sucked. It is a sort of non-contact reverse CPR (Cardiac
Pulmonary Resuscitation) that the monsters perform in attempting to
murder the boys. Isn’t this clever of Rowling and the movie director!
Harry has a good heart. He cannot see his enemy being murdered so he does the magnamimious thing. He rescues his foe. Mind you,
that is a foul mouthed bully, most undeserving of help. Just as Harry is tested
for his purity of virtue, his friend comes along into the tunnel. She is an old
lady pushing a shopping cart, just wandering in as if it is everyday business
to be walking into a tunnel with a pushcart.
Harry sends his enemy home. He props up the big softie and delivers him to his parents’
doorstep. His folks look like jerks too. His Dad is a fat glob. His Mum dresses
like a barmaid. It is a typical tactic to portray the less desirables as
repulsive and comical. It gathers strength for the hate towards the perceived
enemies.
Instead of thanking Harry, The Parents are ungrateful and overly
protective of their son. Harry is marginalized in their home. When the chips
are down and out, the player will most certainly be delivered another blow. A
letter, more precisely a magic letter, arrives by special flight to Harry.
It is bad news. The letter announces the temporary suspension
and expelling of Harry because he committed a dreadful mistake by breaking the school
rules. Harry has been charged with the wrongful acts of performing magic
outside school and that too, in the presence of a Muggle (non-magic person).
Harry is shocked and devastated. He
returns to his room.
Harry sleeps restlessly. He is awakened by
the sound of his room key being turned in its keyhole. He stands up, ready for
a fight. Surprise! All his superpower friends living in London are here. There’s
Alastor ‘Mad Eye’ Moody, Nymphadora Tonks and the rest of the outcast bunch of
superpower misfits. They gatecrash into his room because they have a matter of
utmost urgency. They tell the bad news that the Dark Lord, Voldemort has
returned. He is scheming to ruin Hogwart and all good sorcerers. There is going
to be an important meeting at Ron Weasley’s house. ‘Mad Eye’ assembles everyone outside the house
ad he taps his walking stick on the ground. Ta-da! A neat line of broomsticks
manifest themselves. The wizards and witch climb aboard their transportation
and off they go. The night scene around London bridge is beautiful. The flying
broomsticks are faster than the average four legged gallop.
They arrive
safely at the Weasley’s house, of course. What else would you expect from broomsticks in
flight? No oxygen masks are necessary. It is the best method of flying and
environmentally friendly too. It leaves zero (nought) carbon footprint . Al
Gore would be proud of Harry Potter and company.
The Weasleys give Harry a warm welcome, as
befits the best friend of their children. Harry is overjoyed to see his
godfather, Sirius, also present at this meeting. Sirius is Harry’s sole
surviving kinsman.
Children should be seen and not heard. They
should be protected from the dark side, the Dark Lord and from reality. The
adults hold these views and they exclude Harry from their meeting. They banish
him to his assigned room.
O, what sorrows and humiliation Harry feels
at this slight of his intelligence and age. Harry climbs up the winding
staircase to his room. He opens the door and is met with a sudden gush of warm
air. Something or somebody rushes at him. He has barely time to steady himself.
This film maker technique and cinematography is so suspenseful. Hopefully, this writing hopes to stimulate
some of their strategies at drumming up suspense. I won’t procrastinate much longer. The wild
thing that launched at Harry is Hermione! She says she is so happy to see Harry
here. Wait a minute! Here’s another
surprise! Ron is also present. But of
course! It is Ron’s house and Ron’s parents are hosting this all important
adults meeting. It is far too serious to be a mad wizards’ tea party.
The children devise a method of
eavesdropping on their elders. They use a simple microphone imbedded in a ear
shape. They stand at the top of the stairs and lower their pride and joy down
the stairway. It works out fine until the pet cat decides that wants to get
into the action as well. It swipes at the dangling morsel of fleshy ear. It
teases it. It captures the ear in one fell swoop and disappears from camera
with its snack. The viewers know that the plastic ear cannot be chow but it is
kitty’s trophy since it is stolen property. All pet owners and pet haters know
the extent of the jubilation the predator celebrates its kill. This kitty is no
exception. It laps up its ‘meat’ and licks its chops. Urgh! How tasty can
plastic be? Besides being non-biodegradable, it is environmentally
non-friendly. It might even contain
carcinogens in the carbon compounds. By the way, kitty looks like the Queen’s Cheshire
cat. Its smirking face sure looks like the kitty that has the disappearing façade
in Alice In Wonderland.
Harry, Ron and Hermione are permitted to
dine at the Long Table. This is another bit of British national pride as
another legend is evoked. This scene is rather reminiscent of Arthur and his
Round Table. This time, Sirius parodies King Arthur. His band of rough
magicians is his rather trustworthy if not battle-worthy knights. Sirius is the
most handsome of this broody bunch of elders.
The plan is to escort Harry safely to
appear for his hearing at the judge and jury.
Sirius transforms himself into a large, hairy, dog. The canine is black,
of course, to symbolize what magic can conjure at the wave of a wand. Harry
succeeds to stand before the Council of elders. He tries to defend himself
against the charges. The partial judge is bent upon passing judgment sans a
fair hearing.
The defendant suddenly has a defending
speaker thrust into his face. He is none other than Professor Albus Dumbledore,
Hogwart’s Headmaster. Harry is overjoyed to see him. He feels that his cause is
not all lost. The professor calls upon the expert witness who testifies that
she saw the two death eater zombies. The Council vote upon the audacity of
Harry’s use of magic in the presence of a Muggle but under life threatening
conditions. Harry’s case wins and he rules the day.
Harry returns to Hogswart castle as the new
school term opens. We meet many new students.
This scene introduces the new character, Luna Lovegood. She is played by
Evanna Lynch and she is sweeter than sweet sixteen. She carries her effusion of
mystery and compassion rather well. She sees the strange looking Pegasus breed
of monster skeletal horses whereas the other students see nothing. Harry is
able to see those mythical creatures too. He shares the same blood of
compassion as Luna. The creatures draw the open cart carriages to ferry and
welcome the students back into Hogswart. All the other students are incapable
of seeing these horse like skeletons. To
their naked eyes, it appears that their carriages move by their own accord.
Only Harry and Luna are able to see the horses tethered to their carts. Luna
asks why they are invisible to the others. Harry replies that only those who
have seen death will see the creatures who reflect death in appearance. Luna
tells Harry that she has seen death and that is why she can view. Here’s
another common type casting cliché. Looks deceive. The sweet young thing has
more brains than initially thought.
The children are seated in a huge hall.
This is like the medieval hall of feasting and banquet for the common people
under a dominant patriarch. The headmaster, Professor Dumbledore, introduces
his new teaching staff. The Ministry Of Mysteries, akin to the authority in
charge of the state’s education, has dispatched Professor Umbridge to Hogswart.
Harry suspects that she has been
implanted as a spy. She works for Fudge, the Minister of Mysteries. Harry knows
this because she was present at his hearing.
As rotten luck would have it, the worst
Professor is assigned to Harry’s class. Straight from Day One, Professor
Umbridge announces that they will learn tom practice magic. She is in favor of
an academic education. This is part of the old school philosophy of- children
should be told what to do. Harry protests. He voices his concerns about the
return of the Dark Lord Voldemort. He requests that they should be taught real
magic to defend themselves against Voldemort. Professor Umbridge silences
Harry. She adamantly insists that Harry is telling lies and orders him to see
her in the privacy of her office after class. She refuses to consider the
possibility that Voldemort can make a comeback, much less, an appearance.
Professor Umbridge is sardistic. She
composes herself with a cup of light tea and about 4 lumps of sugar. When Harry
walks into her office, he sees that the walls are decorated immaculately with
framed portraits of cats. All these felines mew and run away deeper into their
framed territories when Harry enters.
She orders Harry to be seated and write lines as deterrent detention. It
seems too easy to be true. It is too easy to be true. There is more to it. Harry
remarks that there is no ink pot at his writing desk. Professor Umbridge
replies that it is a very special pen and does not use external ink. Now are
you sufficiently prepared for this? Can you take the hint on why the ink “…will
not be necessary…”? As Harry writes out his line with his right hand, the same
pen manship is etched out on the back of his left hand as he rests it on the
desk. Harry grimaces in pain and agony but he does not protest. His manly pride
or adolescent anger would not permit him to show weakness in the face of humiliation.
By the end of the first line, Harry’s hand is mutilated with the sentence, “I
must not tell lies”. This draws
attention to the current trend of self-mutilation or self-tattoo. It screams
for attention. In Harry’s case, Professor is silently screaming for help by her
use of sadistic methods of discipline. The audience is alerted to the mental
state of this conceited Professor. By now, all Harry’s fans will be hating this
woman to the roots of her ridiculous hair and costumes. Professor Umbridge has
a wardrobe of bright, siren reds in this movie. The color coding fits her
temperament.
After his ordeal, Harry is glum and moody.
He refuses the sympathy and companionship of his closest pals, Hermione and
Ron. Hermione suggests to report this torture to the Headmaster Dumbledore but
Harry brushes it away.
That night, Harry has a dream. It is a
nightmare. He dreams about a snake who strikes a man with his fangs. He is so
terrified that he has to be dragged to see Professor Umbridge. He is convinced
that Voldemort is invading his dreams and controlling him. Professor Dumbledore
decides to send Harry to Snapes. Snapes will tutor and coach Harry on how to
exercise control over his mind. Snapes takes this opportunity to bully Harry.
He invades the private realm of Harry’s mind. Harry does not comprehend the
hatred that Snapes exhibit towards him. He has several training sessions under Snapes.
One day, Harry fights back. He reverses the thought invasion spell Snapes casts
on him. Snapes is taken unawares and unable to resist. Harry invades Snapes’
mind and sees his childhood days. Snapes was a weak student and was humiliated
by James Potter, Harry’s father. Snapes is totally humiliated himself now. He
orders Harry to leave his private laboratory as he deems his lessons have
finished.
Hermione and Ron persuade Harry to form his
own school of magic to teach the rest of the students how to fight and defend
themselves. They hold a meeting outside school and sign up students for Dumbledore’s
Army. They are in agreement that they should arm themselves with knowledge,
skills and power to defend Dumbledore. The students suspect that the Ministry
Of Mysteries Head of Department, Fudge,
is trying to dislodge Dumbledore from authority because Fudge feels
insecure over the former’s wisdom in
sorcery. Fudge fears that Dumbledore may try to usurp power and dethrone him to
become a Minister himself. The students know that Dumbledore does not care for
material possessions like power. They believe in the fight for the innocent and
righteous.
Harry delivers an impromptu but persuasive
speech to convert students over to the Dumbledore Army. They pledge allegiance
to Dumbledore. Harry, Ron and Hermione
are very pleased that their meeting is a success. They disband and return to
school grounds. Professor Umbridge stands at the highest point of Hogswart
castle. She spies on the students in this manner. She eavesdrops into their
conversations as they walk on foot towards the school gate and enter. Professor
Umbridge orders the janitor to hang up framed portraits of school rules. These
are strict declarations of new rules that she expects to be enforced and
observed at the pain of punishment. There are over a hundred rules in frames
and the janitor has to climb higher and higher as the space becomes scarce at
the bottom of the wall. This message is delivered in mock seriousness. The
janitor is a weasel. He spies on the students. One day, he spies the students
entering the secret room behind a wall. He camps out, in front of the wall.
However, he falls asleep from the exhaustion of playing the detective. He is
the comical figure; the designated clown. The students finish their practice
and exits from their secret room via a different opening.
The students work hard to learn the
techniques of incurring spells from Harry. They actually enjoy themselves in
their practical study of magic. I have never seen such diligence at work, except
on the big screen, of course.
Just when the students are about to dismiss
for the vacation, Harry and Cho Chang share a very private moment. In a
vulnerable moment of weakness, Harry and Cho Chang kiss. It is a long,
lingering screen kiss. The viewer can’t see anything really. That’s why it is
called a screen kiss. The camera angle and shots show two heads meeting
together, locked for a while. There is no focus on their locked lips, just a
few seconds of their lips touching. There was a lot of molass generated about
this first screen kiss for the actor and actress. It is a bit of a let down. The plot would
have it that 2 hot teenagers get hooked at their soonest moment of privacy but
it falls flat. There is little
credibility to support the claim on that romance.
It is a great movie.
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tags:
harry potter, harry potter book 5, harry potter book five, Harry Potter and the order of the phoenix
Adult version book cover/ book jacket. 
Children’s version bookcover/jacket in USA.
Children’s version bookcover/jacket in UK/British English speaking countries.