disappointment and delight

[Hans Andréa]

The first time I saw POA I was bitterly disappointed. The second time I was
thrilled to bits.

I was disappointed the first time because my vision of Harry Potter is that
these books are so sublime, so vast in their emotional impact (on me
anyway), and provide such an overwhelmingly rich spiritual experience that
the film medium could probably never convey that. When I read the books, and
particularly the (spiritual) climax, I'm transported into a state of intense
and pure joy, because I recognise the liberating symbolism in the story.

To understand my point fully I refer you to my article "Harry Potter -
Christian Rosycross in Jeans", filed on the main site at   . My contention
is that each book symbolises the liberation of the soul returning to the
original spirit. Each book takes place on a successively higher plane of
life. The first book represents the physical plane (the visible world of
solids, gases and liquids), the second represents the etheric plane (the
plane of life-forces) and the second the astral plane, the plane of emotions
and desires. 

In the beginning of the book we see Harry having no control over his
emotions, with the result that he inflates his aunt. And the dementors have
a powerful effect on him, as we all know. During the year he learns to
resist the dementors. Lupin tells Harry that what he's really afraid of is
fear of fear itself. Fear is the most powerful emotion of all and Harry's
quest is to build up the inner strength to be able to repel the attacks of
the dementors. 

The dementors to me symbolise not only fear and depression, but in fact the
astral plane is brimming with all sorts of vile forces that feed on people
who are on the same emotional level. These dementors or demonic forces seek
to possess people to make them carry out acts of horrendous violence and
unspeakable acts of extreme depravity. An example. There was a BBC World
Service broadcast the other day about the massacres in Rwanda 10 years ago.
Some of the people who did the killing were interviewed and they expressed
the experience that they were "possessed by devils" as they put it. That's
the truth about the dementors. We, all of us human beings, exude emotional
energy which is absorbed by living accumulations of energy. After a time, as
is the natural property of astral matter, these accumulations of energy
start to develop a consciousness and a strong desire for self-preservation
and growth. The grosser the emotional level, the more energetic the fight
for emotional food. And their way of obtaining food is to possess people who
are prone to emotions of hatred and violence.

What I'm saying is that when terrorists for example carry out heinous acts
of murder and destruction, they are being possessed by living astral
monsters that humanity in general has created by radiating negative
emotions. That's why terrorists are totally immune to reason; they are
possessed by Molochs who have no conscience and feed on death, destruction
and bloodshed. 

Then along comes Harry Potter. Harry is the absolute opposite of the astral
forces that are creating so much terror in our millennium. As I've pointed
out on the main group so often, and again in my article, Harry is the symbol
for the divine spark that we have in our heart. His father was a stag. The
stag symbolizes the longing from that imperishable spark to return to its
Creator. Harry is the part within each of us that is born when we decide
once and for all to answer the call for the lost child of the original
spirit to come home. When we hand over the control of our life to Harry
within us, he will begin to clean up our emotional life, just like Jesus
cleared the temple. Of course he will be confronted by the evil within us
and around us. At first they will cause him to lose consciousness and they
will suck out all our positive emotions. But gradually Harry will gain
strength; our inner divine being will learn to overcome fear and all
negative emotions. 

Then one day, when the time is right, Harry will win the final battle
against the astral vampires that hover around us. One day they will go for a
concerted attack. A hundred (symbol for totality) astral dementors gather
and attack the only begotten Son within us. What does he do? He invokes his
father. With all his concentration on the Holy longing in his heart, the
thirst for the Living Undying Spirit, he calls up the highest astral force
attainable by a human being: the yearning for the Spirit. And this supreme
and supernal force drives all evil powers away for ever. Harry is liberated
from the earthly astral plane.

This is the background of my thoughts when I read the following immortal
lines: "...he thought he saw a silvery light, growing brighter and brighter
[...]The blinding light was illuminating the grass around him... The
screaming had stopped, the cold was ebbing away... Something was driving the
dementors back...the air was warm again."`

and 

"'EXPECTO PATRONUM!' he yelled. And out of the end of his wand burst, not a
shapeless cloud of mist, but a blinding, dazzling silver animal.[...]He saw
it lower its head and charge at the swarming Dementors [...]It wasn't a
horse. It wasn't a unicorn either. It was a stag. It was shining brightly as
the moon above.[...]it stared at Harry with its large, silver eyes. Slowly
it bowed its antlered head. And Harry realised... 'Prongs, ' he whispered."

I just can't express the power that I perceive in these words. In them is
contained the Way for humanity to free itself from all violence, wars, and
hatred. In them is the way for the "insginificant" single tiny human being
to defeat the combined forces of evil should they choose to attack him or
her. Even if the entire collective army of demons should attack us, we could
easily chase them all away if we have in our heart that true longing for
God, emanating from the inner sanctuary in the heart. That is what Harry
Potter means to me! 

I hope I have succeded to some extent in explaining to you how disappointed
I was in the film realisation of the above description of the stag in
Rowling's own words. I know that many of you were disappointed as well. 

In addition I experienced many of the disappoinments that other members have
expressed so elegantly, and I share many of the joys as well. The trouble is
that despite the many posts warning that we shouldn't have the book in mind
when seeing the film, I couldn't help having it in mind. I just wasn't
capable of wiping the book from my consciousness. It's not a mental memory
really; it's like an emotional memory. The book version of POA is just so
breathtakingly sublime I'm not able to ignore that.

So when I saw the film the second time I knew what to expect and this time I
could sit back and enjoy it all without reservation. 

Buckbeak's ride alone is worth the price of the ticket. To see that clumsy
beast gallopping along through the trees and then suddenly its magnificent
wings unfold and the hippogriff taking off is, to me, one of the greatest
moments in film viewing. And then that brilliant accompanying music of John
Williams! I've got the CD and am listening to it right now. As Rowling puts
it, "it makes my heart swell like a balloon" to hear that glorious evocative
music. First that wild drumming to accompany the beast's run up, and then
that swelling, ascending music which conveys so thrillingly the rising up
into the sky, with that glorious scenery and that wonderful feeling of
freedom Harry visibly experinces.

And I love everything all you other fans love about it.

Hans in Holland

Find local movie times and trailers on Yahoo! Movies.
http://au.movies.yahoo.com