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Prisoner of Azakaban is the best Harry Potter movie so far

I chose not to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 immediately after it was released; I wanted to re-watch the whole series of films before I did so. (I would have liked to read the books too, but between end-of-semester exams coming up next week and applying for industrial placement for next year, I haven’t much time.) I completed that last week, and saw Deathly Hallows yesterday.

Deathly Hallows is a good film; there’s no denying that. David Yates gets the luxury of spreading out the narrative in a two-parter, and that obviously helps. What I enjoyed about his direction is how in this film (and Half-Blood Prince), Yates touches up emotional scenes through the judicious use of silence. That Radcliffe can’t act out anything that requires anything beyond the ’emotional range of a teaspoon’ was amply clear in his botched up crying scene over the dead body of Cedric Diggory in Goblet of Fire – and Yates, to his credit, realizes that.

Having Harry/Radcliffe sob stiflingly, or keep his trap shut, instead of hamming his lines adds that much more gravitas to important scenes. This propensity towards silence works with the soundtrack too; rather than going for a questionable score as in certain scenes of Order of the Phoenix, Yates opts to have no background score at all during fight scenes in Deathly Hallows. Fight scenes that shine, as if they are quiet gunfights. It’s a tiny, almost unnoticeable change from previous films – and yet, it makes measures of difference in driving home the ‘reality’ of what’s happening within a fictional world.

I found this frame from the movie so funny that I *had* to put it in this blog post. Also, clicking on the image will take you to a high-larious 'ginger' joke.

No matter how much I or anyone else deny liking the Harry Potter universe – being a guilty pleasure – its undeniable how pervasive this ‘liking’ is. Watching back the older films the past week and reading critical reactions of the Harry Potter movies after each one’s release, I observed how even hardcore film critics – from whom nary a word of praise is uttered unless a movie does something spectacularly extraordinary – gleefully award top-notch ratings to Harry Potter films. The same critics also join the chorus of Potter fanatics screaming “THIS ONE WAS THE DARKEST INSTALLMENT EVARRR!!!”

Every pixel of this image screams out "PHOTOSHOPPED!" (including Robbie Coltrane)

One of the aspects that stands out clearly is how painfully fake some of the then-cutting-edge CGI looks. This makes me wonder whether Warner Bros will go down the Lucasian route of releasing ‘digitally remastered’ iterations in the future to milk profits from this franchise. It’s clear in the earlier films how the directors tried to avoid anything that required a lot computer-generated animation by trying to merely hint at action happening off-camera. As the franchise progressed, the use of CGI just got bolder and bolder – to the point that the yet-to-be-released second part of Deathly Hallows will digitally ‘age’ the actors for the epilogue, à la The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Having seen the whole series including and up to Deathly Hallows, I stand by a statement I have made many times over the years: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the best Harry Potter movie of all time. Now, I know that among most fans this is the least loved one, for a variety of reasons – but I want to list why I think it’s the best of the series (and will probably remain so) for a variety of reasons.

You see, Prisoner of Azkaban was the first AND only movie in the series to visualize magic as a part of the Harry Potter world, rather than an artifact that had to be worked into the script because of the storyline. From the guy stirring a cup of tea while reading a battered copy of Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time…

…to the cleaning lady with a bewitched broom who has to deal with magic gone wrong in her daily work…

…the wacky interpretation of the Knight Bus…

…every one of these fleeting scenes makes Prisoner of Azkaban a better film. The choice of the book, for instance – A Brief History of Time – reminds the viewer how Harry Potter is set in the present ‘Muggle’ world, not some distant lost land in the mists of time.

Look at the kids! They just can’t wait to get out of their school robes and into casual clothes – just as you’d expect from teenagers of their age. I feel it’s one of the reasons why this movie feels so out-of-sync in comparison to the others, because the later films don’t adopt the same liberal sartorial policy.

And how can I ever forget the Hogwarts choir singing Something Wicked This Way Comes (the lyrics were inspired by William Shakespeare), each singer holding a bulbous toad in their hands that chimes in with a subtle croak every now and then in the song!

Each director in the series has brought something unique to it: Chris Columbus brought his slavish adherence to recreating a picture-perfect version of the book (exemplified by how he had to have an announcer at Quidditch matches – utterly pointless!); Mike Newell, with his focus on making Goblet of Fire a B-grade action film; David Yates, adding an impish touch of humour running through an incrementally ‘dark’ storyline. But only Alfonso Cuaron put the leeway implied in ‘based on the novel by JK Rowling’ to good use; he was the only one with the vision to imagine a world where magic and reality coexist. Each of the examples I mentioned above adds a spark that bring Prisoner of Azkaban to life in a way that none of the other movies in the series do.

Sadly, the immaturity of Potter fans (at least, ones that I know or have read personally) shows in how fixated most get with “But…this is not in the book!” when judging Azkaban. I’d rather have Cuaron be the Chosen One to direct Deathly Hallows.

****

One last thing. This might sound a bit…awkward…so I’m just going to spill it out. I find the way “the actor who plays Voldemort” handles his wand…exciting. You know…the way he always gently – almost reverently – caresses his wand…and then is suddenly, like, all “Avada Kedavra!” and shit. I just can’t stop myself from clapping and cheering on in those bits.

Oh, the jokes that can be made about 'pieces of wood'. "Birch?" "No. Elder, actually." "Naice..."
Categories
Personal Reflections

The scourge of ceiling fans

You might have heard the news story of a final year student at IIT Kanpur who committed suicide recently (the eighth such incident in the past five years). To the credit of the university’s administration, a panel was formed to investigate the tragedy and the root cause has been identified – ceiling fans.

The reason they’ve come up with such a solution is that if a student is depressed, his suicidal tendencies are aggravated looking at the fan hanging from the ceiling, as now he finds a ready setup to execute his idea.

– Anonymous Internet commenter

Photo credit: Jeff Kramer
The Devil's inanimate helper on earth

The plan – which reeks of genius – is to replace all ceiling fans with pedestal fans so that students cannot commit suicide any more. This, of course, is a problem if you want to commit suicide and don’t have ceiling fans. It seems to me, however, that there are a few loopholes:

  1. ‘Suicidee’ might chew the wire of the pedestal fan, ingest hazardous plastics initially followed by an incredibly painful electrocution.
  2. Suicidee might unscrew cover of pedestal fan and stick their face into the rotating blades, dismembering their face and causing an eventual, slow death due to massive blood loss.
  3. Suicidee might eat rat poison / overdose on sleeping pills / smoke cigarettes for 5-6 decades.
  4. Suicidee might jump out of a window, as demonstrated in the video below.

I stand by the finding of the panel that the most logical conclusion as to the cause of this tragedy is, indeed, ceiling fans. However, I believe that further steps are needed. In the best interests of the safety of students at IIT Kanpur, all of them should be straitjacketed and imprisoned in solitary confinement. These measures might seem drastic but what has to be done has to be done – in the best interests of the students.

And now, a message for the slow-witted diplodocuses in the audience. (Hi y’all at the back, chewing cud! Glad you could make it here!)

In case even this is not clear enough, you aren't seeing the sign(s).

****

It pains and angers me deeply (I don’t want to discuss ‘why’) when someone dismisses depression as ‘just feeling sad’. Depression is not that time when you really wanted to go to the cinema with your friends on your birthday and couldn’t because of heavy rains. There’s no way to “man up” and brush off depression by listening to a couple of jokes.

Depression is a certified medical condition; the onset might be triggered by social or other factors but once it sets in it causes physical reactions in your body such as hormonal imbalances. More importantly, depression is a treatable medical condition – given proper medical care and rehabilitation time.

Frankly, I am appalled by the state of psychiatric care in India. Psychiatrists are rarely found in hospitals except for the select few private ones, thus beyond the reach of anyone not fortunate enough to be a part of India’s rich or upwardly mobile middle class. Even then, Indian society does not accept that psychological disorders are valid medical conditions. The tendency is to equate any psychological condition to ‘insane’ or ‘retarded’, often exquisitely summed up as “How could my son/daughter be ‘mental’?”

Most Indian – showing an astounding level of stupidity and reckless disregard – turn any suggestion of a loved one needing psychological help into an ego issue. This same reckless disregard seeps through in the decision take by the IIT Kanpur administration. “These are the best and brightest students in the country! How dare you suggest they ‘might need help’?”, the thinking goes. And so, the blame must lie in something else. Maybe ceiling fans. Maybe Internet access. Maybe parents staying too frequently in touch with students through increased usage of cellphones. That’s it! Block cellphones!

Setting up a counselling centre and expecting students to self-evaluate and seek help is patently ridiculous. It takes a lot of personal courage admit that one needs to consult a psychiatrist, and the social stigma attached with taking that step doesn’t help matters at all. A person who’s depressed (or suffering from any other disorder) might not even realize they need to seek help.

At my university, for instance, we had students who volunteered to work with the Care Services department. I was a senior resident myself, and thus a part of this team. Each student volunteer was ‘assigned’ to 10-20 residents living in accommodations on campus. Our job was to meet with the residents weekly and proactively seek out whether everything was okay with them. This could be anything – academic pressure, financial trouble, health problems, psychological problems, roommates stealing food from kitchens – what have you, and we would refer this to the relevant department within the university. Residents could reach out to us not just in weekly meeting, but any time they wanted – by calling us directly or a student mentor helpline. It works. Residents are more likely to open up to peers – who are bound to keep any interactions confidential – than their own friend or straight-away approaching a counsellor.

All this is in addition to the existing 24/7 distress helpline and a member of teaching staff assigned as your personal mentor for the length of your university life. Steps such as this is just an illustrative example; universities abroad actively engage in such measures to care for their student population.

The hardest thing for a depressed person is to find someone to speak to. The trigger itself might have originated from parents / relatives / friends, which rules out approaching them. Add the social stigma present in India and the general fear of being made fun of for speaking about what undoubtedly would be their innermost thoughts, and you’ll realize how difficult it can be for a depressed person to speak up.

News reports after the recent IIT Kanpur tragedy quoted professors claiming such things “didn’t happen in our days”. They blame less face-to-face socializing among students these days as the reason. It. Doesn’t. Matter. Social mores change; what was relevant then may not be relevant now. For better or worse, this is how students today are – and the administrations of universities and schools across India have to deal with that. Yes, schools too. I know of friends who had classmates in high school committing suicide because they couldn’t bear the stress of entrance exams.

Going to university is naturally a time of emotional turmoil. You are away from family (and friends you’ve grown up with) for extended periods. Pressure to do well in exams after an eternity of missing lectures. Apprehension about finding a job after graduating. Romantic hookups and breakups. For the first time in your life, going to university forces you to deal with things as an adult – with the life experience of a teenager. This is why universities abroad take student care seriously. This is why they put in so much effort into it. It matters, if they can provide help on time to even that one person who is in their darkest hour. You are their responsibility for the years that you’ll be staying there.

And it is time that Indian universities stepped up to fulfill that same responsibility towards their students.