The Moon of Liberty

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) - First watched Today

Starring - Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Ruper Gint, Ralph Finnes, Gary Oldman

Directed by David Yates

The fifth installement of the film based on JK Rowling's best selling series, Harry saves the ghastly Dudley Dursley from an attack from a dementor, and ends up in the dock of the fact he used a spell in front of a muggle to save him. The Head of the Ministry of magic, Cornelous Fudge, refuses to believe Potter's story as it would mean accepting the return of Lord Voldermort, which Fudge is unwilling to do. 

Hogwarts Headmaster Dumbledor also states Voldermort is back, and Fudge through paranoia, believing Dumbleor is using Voldernmort as cover to oust him, condemns Hogwarts to the rule of Proffessor Umbridge, acting on his behalf. She bans the students from learning to defend themselves against the dark arts, so Potter, after eventually pursuding his friends he is telling the truth about Voldermort,  takes the role of teacher on himself.

Potter also learns about 'The Order of the Phoenix.' Set up to fight Voldermort the first time around, this time Potter will be the key. Sirius Black returns to aid Harry and advises him of his family history, that Black's own family were pureblood fanatics and disciples of the Voldermort view of the world. Maybe this holds a few clues to how all this will end. It becomes clearer and clearer Voldermort is back the longer the film goes (we already knew of course from the Goblet of Fire), but can Sirius, Dumbledor, or anyone stop him? Maybe Harry, we shall have to wait for the other films to wait and see.

This film pieces the jigsaw together nicely from the last film. It flows, with a good balance of appropriate humour too. This film is only around 2 and 20 minutes long, so I expect greater exponents of the books than I will complain plenty has been missed out. but as a continuation of the journey towards the inevitable final clash between Potter and Voldermort it does the job very well. The acting in this film is good too, and huge credit to Imelda Staunton for her role as Umbridge, there were times when she was so horrible you wanted to give her a slap, that was her job, and she did it exceptionally well.

The final dramatic scenes did an exceptional job, with flashback scenes documenting what was going through Potter;s mind exceptionally well directed and edited. A key character dies in the final fight of the film, most of you will know who but I wont spoil it for those who have not read the books. There was an impressive battle between Voldermort and Dumbledor, the flashing colours as they tried through their spells to destroy each other looked like a modern version of Obi Won Kanobi verses Darth Vader. There was also further evidence of Harry having love for other people being the key to his battle against Voldermort, as love stopped Voldermort infiltrating his mind.

It is an ecapsulating film from start to finish, and has me thoroughly looking forward to the Half-Blood Prince. Overall this is not quite as good as the Goblet of Fire, but it more than did the job and leaves you optimistic that when it comes to the big finale, they have a formula to get it right.

THE MOON OF LIBERTY VERDICT - MY RATING 'B+' A Very good film, good acting and a smooth story telling moving the series nicely on towards the Half-Blood Prince

I'm going to kick off my film section with a film I saw and loved a couple of years ago. I will throw in reviews of films I have seen in the past as this blog is new, along with reviews of new films as and when I see them. As a result most of the retrospective reviews will probably be rated higher in general, as I will be positng more my my favourites than duds. I rate each film on an A+ to F rating, this of course, is only my opinion, but on my blog, it counts for rather a lot :)

The Constant Gardener (2005) - I saw this first in November 2005

Starring Ralph Finnes, Rachel Weisz, Danny Houston, Bill Nighty

Directed by Fernando Meirelles

This film at a glance is one I did not expect a huge amount from, as this sort of storyline tends to work better in books rather than films. This however, well and truely delivered. The lead characters, Ralph Finnes as diplomat Justin Quale, and Rachael Weisz who plays his activist wife Tessa, deliver outstanding performances.

The basis of the plot is Justin is parachuted in to deliver a lecture on the diplomats role in Government foreign policy. After the lecture Tessa delivers a diatribe against the Governemnt. Justin finds her passion attractive and the meet up later. Eventually Justin agrees to marry Tessa which allows her to go to Africa to pusue work with poverty stricken children in Africa. Her outbursts however are an embarrasment to the British Government. Eventually on on of her trips to Africa, Tessa is brutally murdered.

Justin is told his wifes death was suicide. Justin does not believe this, and his wifes readicalisation engulfs him in a search through three continents to search for the truth. He finds a deal between the Governement, and a pharmacutical firm making money out of selling dubious medicine to Africans may have been the link to his wifes death, in the process, his own life is now at risk.

The major trick of this movie is the sequencing. It moves back and forward in time, then back again. This allows the film to give hints of whats to come, then explain how it gets there.This clever decice is at its most powerful at the end, allowing the movie to finish in the only way it could, while still being able to show the consequences of Justin's actions afterwards.

It also has the advantage of the third world eye of Fernando Meirelles, this gives the film a true feel of the reality in Africa in the scenes filmed there. The directing and editing in this film is simply beautiful to watch, and gets the balance between beauty and sadness, power and emotion, absolutely right.

This film has politics, romance, cover-up, great acting, great directing and an emotional intensity few films can match. If you have not seen this film, I urge you to do so.

THE MOON OF LIBERTY VERDICT - MY RATING 'A+' - I voted this my own favourite film of 2005, Rachel Weisz went to to win best Supporting Actress at the OSCARS, and deservedly so. I love this film, in my top few films of all time.