How do you breathe new life into a franchise seven movies deep? By giving the penultimate installment over to Death.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 is bookended by it, opening with Charity Burbage's echo of "Severus, please" and closing with Dobby's utterance of "Harry Potter". Yet no other speaking character dies on screen in the time between those moments; instead of immature attempts at shock by ruthlessly killing characters off, there's only the examination of the losses we've lived through.

Dumbledore's is freshest in our mind as the story begins. We're taken aback when Muriel uses "Dumbledore" in the plural, as if the name can refer to anyone but the Albus Percival Wulfric Brian with whom we were acquainted; but we come to find that perhaps the man we knew was a ghost long before he died, concealing a turbulent lifetime behind the image of a heaster he presented to Harry.

Lily and James Potter draw Harry to them just as they did his eleven-year-old self when he discovered their likenesses in the Mirror of Erised. Six years later, he again finds himself standing before his parents on Christmas, all too aware that if he were to fail, he could bridge the void between him and them - but that allowing himself to fail would be a betrayal of those parts of them he holds dearest.

Even Death incarnate visits briefly, and we see that those who try to get the better of it still end up in its clutches. The man who eludes Death is he who carries a piece of Death with him, coming to understand it so that he may greet it like an old friend once his time has come to a close.

It's no accident that this film is where we see the first graves of the series. As our characters grow beyond familiarity with Death and become acquainted with it, they suffer and they doubt. Loss leaves them directionless even as it motivates them to carry on. The synthesis Harry reaches at the end - not looking to Dobby's death for a path forward; not seeking revenge on Dobby's murderer; just shouldering the end of his loyal friend without being defined by it - is a cathartic culmination of the losses he's had to bear throughout the series, even as the melancholy lingers. It also leaves him in the perfect place to do what he must in Part 2.

Harry Potter Ranking
Scores, Ranked

It's hard to say that the movie deserves so much credit when the book paved the way. Even acting as just a first half, it's not a one-to-one retelling, with significant scenes in the book not making it into the adaptation. There's one I've personally lamented the lack of in the past, but now I understand why it was removed. Pettigrew's death in the books is an important moment of both regret and comeuppance for the character, and yet he experiences neither in the film. Give this iteration of the character such an ending, though, and it causes the thematic through-line to waver. Wormtail dying is no loss for Harry; in fact, it's a satisfying way for Pettigrew to go out after all the pain he's inflicted on our protagonist. But death in this story must then be associated - however slightly - with justice, which is at odds with a film about death as loss for Harry and him growing capable of assimilating death into his own spirit. I credit the film and its creative team with endeavoring to realize a unique identity for the film, one that is independent of both the "Part 2" it sets in motion and the text from which it's adapted, not forgetting that doing so was an additional risk on top of the principal decision to dedicate a feature-length runtime to faithfully reproducing the part of the seventh story that's most often derided. It's not the flashiest of risks, but they were chances taken nonetheless, and they gave rise to the most ruminative, captivating entry of the already remarkable series.

Wow, I didn't even get into everything else I love in this movie. The visual transition from apparating out of the Ministry to the forest, the dance scene between Harry and Hermione (which is clearly painted as a friend comforting another friend, not a romantic scene) (it's also the best non-book-adapted inclusion in the series), the impossible blend of hopelessness and magic in Desplat's score, the fact that the sky battle NEEDS to be made into a ride at the Wizarding World park with a Space-Mountain-style roller coaster and Forbidden-Journey-esque visuals, the superb acting from three newcomers that completely embody our main trio, and the moment that Ron literally takes up Harry's baggage when they talk outside the Burrow...I could go on and on. More than ever, I'm certain that DHP1 is my favorite of the series...which I would normally qualify with "even though PoA is the 'best'", but in light of this watch, I'm not sure I can even say that.