Magic is Might : Random thoughts on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

[dipenates]

I didn't expect to like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 as much as I did. It's had dreadful reviews, and there's been quite a lot of Twitter snark about how boring it is. Contrarily, I think it might have been my favourite film so far.

1. The pacing struggled a bit in some of the other films, because they were squeezing so much into each one. I thought the pacing very good in Part One, and I was completely gripped. I think it was very sensible to split DH into two, although it now feels like quite a long wait until July, and I think I'm going to have to re-read the book. 
2. I love Harry, Hermione, and Ron together. I thought that the bits of romance there were, were the weakest part of the books, and it's lovely to see their friendship foregrounded.
3. I love Hermione most of all. She's pleasingly bookish, competent, and brave.
4. The design of the wizarding world is brilliant. I love all of the crooked old houses, full of gorgeous, interesting things. There were a few touches of European mid-century fascism in the design of the publications coming out of the Ministry of Magic, which worked well.
5. Britain looked wild and beautiful, and pleasingly wintery.

If anyone came out of the film wanting some fic recs, then I have a couple. I never really dipped my toe into HP fandom, because there was just too much stuff. However, I was reading saras_girl  in another fandom, and was blown away by her writing, so read a short one-shot in her Foundations-verse one day. I wasn't particularly in to the idea of Harry/Draco, but her verse blew me away. There are two novel-length fics, Reparations, and Foundations, and they are absolutely brilliant. Beautifully paced, written, and characterised, they chart a post-DH arc for both Draco and Harry that is unexpected, but makes complete sense. It sets out, in microcosm, how the people and institutions of the wizarding world might move past the events described in the books, and find some measure of reconciliation. Links to pdf versions of both fics can be found here.