One Man's Review - possible, but hopefully, few Spoilers

[Steve]

---  "Karen" <kchuplis at ...> wrote:

> >>>>Steve/bboyminn:

> >>>>
> >>>><<I was very disappointed that Harry relented and
> >>>> gave Lucius the Prophecy Orb. He should have held
> >>>> out to the very end. ....>>
> >>>>

> Phyllis:
> >>>>I didn't like that, either ..., but IIRC, in the
> >>>> book, Harry is just about to hand over the 
> >>>> prophecy to Malfoy when the Order burst in, so 
> >>>> presumably he would have done so had the Order 
> >>>> not shown up at that precise moment.  I don't see
> >>>> that as Harry giving up, but rather making a 
> >>>> choice to save Neville over retaining the prophecy. 
> 
> Karen:
> 
> In fact, to me it's an even stronger statement in the
> movie that Harry is willing to sacrifice to save his 
> DA friends, where as Voldamort is willing to KILL his 
> followers for the sake of what he wants/needs 
>(encouraging Harry to AK Bellatrix). Again, emphasizing
> the differences between them.
>

bboyminn:

That's not quite how it happened in the book; close,
very close, but not quite. 

Harry is resisting, Neville has just been tortured to 
encourage Harry to give up. Belletrix stops the torture
and says, '...Now, Potter, either give us the prophecy,
or watch your little friend die the hard way!'

Then:

/Harry did not have to think, there was no choice. The
prophecy was hot with the heat from his clutching hand as
he **held it out**. Malfoy jumped forward to take it.

Then, high above them, two more doors burst open and five
more people sprinted in...(the Order)./

So, it appears as if Harry might have been willing to 
give up the prophecy to protect Neville, a very admirable
thing to do, and Harry really has no interest in the 
prophecy at that moment. It is of no value to him, so he
doesn't see any material loss in giving it up. But, on
more than one occasion in the minutes just prior to this,
Harry made it clear that he did not see giving up the
prophecy as salvation, but as death...

"Yeah, right!...I give you this ...And you'll just let us
skip off home, will you?"

Still, I think, in that moment, Harry may have felt that 
giving up the prophecy to protect Neville might buy them
some time, but once the prophecy was gone, their last 
bargaining tool was gone, and very likely they too would
be 'gone' very shortly afterwards. Harry knows this.

So, I think the movie would have been far more reflective
of Harry's character and the books, if Harry first had
strong motivation to protect his friends (Neville having
been tortured), and then seemingly relenting only to have
Sirius show up before the actual hand over. 

One last point on Sirius's 'death'. I agree it seemed as
if Bella's curse was dubbed in afterwards, like at the time
they weren't sure what they were going to do. Still, for
those who noticed, DID the voice really say Avada Kadavra?
I vaguely remember hearing some AK-like curse, maybe 
'alakazam' or something, but the curse wasn't that clear.
I wonder if they didn't use some AK-like curse (Abra Kadabra)
to make us suspect he was killed before he went in, but 
also to leave an element of uncertainty. Can anyone say 
with absolute certainty what curse they heard?

Steve/bboyminn