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windemereThe End has come. In some ways, that's not true, because the books and movies will live on for decades, if not centuries. In other ways, it is most definitely true, because this is it. There isn't anymore.
It's a bittersweet feeling. I have been looking forward to this from the beginning. From 2001 when I read the first book and knew, one day, there would be an end. And that it would be awesome. And it was. The last book was amazing and by far my favourite. And the movie(s)? Even better.
The moment Maggie Smith walked on screen, her wand drawn, to defend Harry against Snape, I started to cry. I knew it was going to happen. I'd been blubbering by that point in the book already. But what got me, yet again, was Snape dying the death of the redeemed. I wanted it so badly when I read book 7 and JK gave it. And Alan Rickman nailed it. As, of course, he was always going to. I was not the only one in the theatre crying at that point.
There are just too many moments of awesome. But, when it comes down to it, no matter how good Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Michael Gambon, Ciaran Hinds, etc., etc., etc. were, there were a specific few that were better.
Because I've watch these children grow up before my eyes. And because they poured every single ounce of knowledge, passion, and drive into these last films. Because every time I looked at Emma Watson I wanted to cry. And every time Rupert Grint looked lost and alone and afraid I wanted to hug him. And every time Daniel Radcliffe did anything I wanted to scream. Because these are the ones who will be the Maggie Smiths and Michael Gambon's of our generation. Because in thirty years, in forty, they will still be able to make me cry with a look and laugh, with a gesture or nod and make me believe for every second that it's all real.
And not just the trio. Ginny killed me when she kisses Harry on the steps of Hogwarts and tells him 'I know'. It is the last he sees of her before she thinks he's dead. Because Neville was fifty thousand kinds of awesome from start to finish. Because Seamus got his moment. Because Draco Malfoy deserved so much more than he got in life and the look on Tom's face at the end, when he goes with his parents says it all. He never wanted the side he got given, but he still can't betray his family. Because he has done everything he could to be fight it and succeeded simply because he did not kill Dumbledore and because he did not betray Harry to Bellatrix. Draco was always the character I felt the most pity for. And Tom Felton was the actor I pitied most this last film. For what he could have been and was never allowed to be.
Because, in the end, this last film was never really about good vs. evil. It's so much more complicated than that. But it is about a boy who grew into a man and who, despite manipulation and planning and being used as a pawn by every single person he ever met, did the only thing he really could. He never wanted any of it. And in the end, he was willing to die for everyone else, even as they were willing to die for him. And win.
So long and farewell, old friends.
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Date: 2011-07-24 05:53 pm (UTC)And oh my God, Ginny is amazing. And Neville. And I'm going to stop myself here before I list every character in Harry Potter. :D
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Date: 2011-07-24 08:30 pm (UTC)Yeah, it was really hard to not go through all of them. I mean Luna! Luna was amazing too and Fred and George and....see?
I was already crying so hard by the time Sirius, Lily, James and Remus appeared I couldn't cry harder, but emotionally that scene really got me.