Review: HP & the Order of the Phoenix

Sunday, July 15, 2007 - Reviewed by Alex Meehan
Directed by David Yates, At cinemas nationwide, cert 12A.

Is there anything worse than not being believed when you’re telling the truth? For Harry Potter in the Order of the Phoenix, the answer is no. A plot exists to persuade the wizarding world that Harry and his champion, Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore, are mistaken in their claims that arch-enemy Lord Voldemort has returned.

Instead, spin doctors at the Ministry of Magica re claiming that Dumbledore is intent on overthrowing the government and that Harry is exaggerating the truth to make himself look good. Concerned by Dumbledore’s influence over impressionable minds at Hogwarts, the Ministry sends the fantastically ruthless Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton) to act as a defence against the dark arts teacher and to keep an eye on things.

Umbridge decrees that there is no threat and therefore no need to practice practical magic, so Harry is chosen by the students to secretly train them in defensive magic. Together, they form Dumbledore’s army, but things take a sinister turn when Umbridge discovers the training sessions and uses them to oust Dumbledore as headmaster.

The Order of the Phoenix is the fifth book in the Harry Potter series and it marks a change of tone for both the film and the book franchise. It’s darker, there’s less comedy, and Harry is at a difficult age where he is faced with ‘‘adult’’ problems. The trouble with casting children in the lead roles of a film franchise is that a cute child on screen in the first movie does not necessarily turn into a competent actor by the fifth instalment.

Nor are they cute enough to compensate for second-rate performances - and in terms of acting, this film is more demanding than its predecessors. Add to this the awkward fact that the supporting cast includes the gargantuan talents of Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman, Michael Gambon and Ralph Fiennes.

Read the rest of this review here.

How brass is your neck?

My award for brass neck of the week goes to the fantastic Cosimo Mele, of the Christian Democrat UDC party, deputy for the constituency of Brindisi in Southern Italy. He was caught in flagrante delicto with a prostitute this week in Rome, when the girl was rushed to hospital apparently suffering the effects of a cocaine overdose.

What would you do if you were in Mr Mele’s shoes? Apologise to your wife and family? Say your sorry? Promise never to do it again? Well, you could do those things, I suppose. Or you could brazenly decide you done nothing wrong and go on the attack.

Here’s what he apparently said to the La Stampe newspaper in Rome.

“Of course I identify with Christian values but what have those got to do with going to bed with a prostitute? This is a private matter.”

“Are you saying that I cannot be a good father and a good husband just because after five, six days away from home, I had a little adventure? My electors do not give a damn if I go to bed with a prostitute. What they want is for me to resolve our problems, the problems of our area.”

Ha ha! An adventure! The man is a born politician.