HARRY POTTER PRISONER OF AZKABAN BREAKDOWN (2004)! Easter Eggs You Missed! | Harry Potter Rewatch
Welcome back to New Rockstars. I'm Eric. Voss and this is a breakdown of 2004's. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of. Azkaban, the third entry in our weekly. Harry Potter rewatch series at New. Rockstars. We are revisiting all eight. films of this series for Easter eggs, details you never spotted, connections. to the book, and what exactly makes this. series so timeless. Timeless takes on a new meaning for this. one. Prisoner of Azkaban is my favorite. Harry Potter film, perhaps because I. adore every film Alfonso Cuarón has. made. And really this set the franchise. on a crucial trajectory that allowed it.
to go the distance. An impressive feat. despite not necessarily doing the best. job adapting its source material. That. award might go to Chamber of Secrets, which elevated a sub-par text into a. well-structured mystery made iconic by. Kenneth Branagh and Jason Isaacs. But. now let us turn the page and solemnly. swear that we are up to no good and dive. into the Prisoner of Azkaban. Also, every week after these breakdowns. come out over on the Break Room channel, Ginny and Ippolito and I host a live Q&A. taking all of your questions. So. subscribe to the Break Room channel and. join us for those. We open the film in.
darkness as Harry tries to ignite the. very film with the Lumos spell. Lumos. maxima. [music]. The balance of darkness and light is a. key motif in Prisoner of Azkaban. As the. Patronus Charm takes the form of light. radiating first in the form of wisps. from the end of the wand and then from. an animal. You'll notice throughout this. film Cuarón often does these kind of. transitions as we wipe to black as the. darkness closes in on characters. Harry's struggle here to summon mere. light from the Lumos spell sets him on. this arc to become really a master of.
light in an interesting form in this. film. Happiness can be found. even in the. darkest of times, if one only remembers. to turn on the light. Harry's light illuminates another. stylized Warner Brothers logo, which. this time is silver instead of gold. Actually, when you stack all eight films. Warner Brothers logos back to back, you. can see a descent into darkness for this. whole franchise. And this third film was. really the first noticeable tonal shift. from kids film to a young adult story. The first two films had come out and the.
Order of the Phoenix book had released. the summer before this in July 2003. So, the filmmakers knew that this series. would need to age up to follow the fan. base's shifting maturity level. Harry. reads extreme incantations by Violetta. Stitch. I imagine he doesn't want to get. caught off guard in another gotcha. session by professors like Snape. Underage wizards are not supposed to be. using magic outside of school and Harry. got dinged in Chamber of Secrets when. the Ministry of Magic sensed a spell. being performed. In the book for this. scene, Harry just uses a flashlight, but. it's kind of cool to see him use the. Lumos spell here just to kind of give. the opening seconds of the film a.
magical vibe. Also, fun detail here, every time Harry uses Lumos, if you. listen closely, you can hear a dog. barking outside. [music]. Now, this could just be a neighborhood. dog annoyed by the light, but I like to. think this could be Sirius Black warning. his godson to stop using magic. The. design of the wands in this film is. different from the first two films. The. film series beyond this would carry on. this production design detail to help. make each wizard's wand a reflection of.
their character's personality, which. will be especially important in Deathly. Hallows when the exact succession of. wand possession is integral to that plot. and each wand needs to look distinctly. different. Chris Columbus, who directed. the first two films, had actually signed. on to direct all seven of the films when. it was at the time seven. However, Columbus realized that he would barely. get to see his wife and kids for years, so he backed out. So, the hunt was on. for a new director and many were. considered from Kenneth Branagh, who had. played Gilderoy Lockhart, to Guillermo. del Toro, who had opted to direct. Hellboy instead, to Marc Forster, who. instead did Finding Neverland, and M. Night Shyamalan, who reportedly turned.
it down to direct The Village. The job. finally went to Alfonso Cuarón, who was. best known at the time for the. Spanish-language coming-of-age film Y tu. mamá también. Cuarón was good friends. with Guillermo del Toro and he's the one. who convinced Cuarón to finally read the. books and consider taking the job. Now, Cuarón had also directed Children and. The Little Princess in the '90s, he was. still an interesting and somewhat. provocative choice for this kids. franchise. He would go on to direct. films like Children of Men and Gravity. and Roma. And a signature style that we. see refined in those movies is all over. this film. He managed to build on what.
Columbus had created while at the same. time leaving behind some of the kid. trappings as the cast and audience aged. up. Instead of closely hewing to the. source material of the book, Cuarón. changed a fair bit putting his own stamp. on it. And many fans think that this is. where the film franchise really started. to cook. Directors after him would. follow his lead making each subsequent. film more adult. Specifically, something. to keep an eye on with Cuarón's style is. a more mischievous floating camera that. glides through impossible positions even. in subtle non-magical moments. Columbus. had done a faithful job adapting key. details from the text but Cuarón makes.
this whole film feel like it's own magic. trick and nearly every scene is an. impressive how the hell did they do that. camera shot with easy to miss timing and. blocking and practical magic that the. actors in the scene had to pull off. themselves. The Dursleys' house still. has a ton of photos of Dudley and zero. photos of Harry. In the book, Dudley had. complained about the long walk from the. living room to the fridge so his. parents, you'll notice, now have three. televisions. One in the living room, one. in the kitchen, and one in the sunroom. And as Dudley eats dinner, two TVs are.
in his eyeline so that no matter where. he is chewing, he has a TV in his eyes. Uncle Vernon's sister Marge and her dog. have come for a visit. Marge makes Harry. clean Ripper's plate and gives this poor. dog brandy yet has the nerve to call. Harry's father an alcoholic and insults. Lily using specific dog trainer. language. If there's something wrong with the. picture then there's something wrong. with the pup. But what really insults Harry is that. despite his instinct to defend his. parents, he never really knew them. At. least not beyond the photographs that. Hagrid had given him and what his inner.
desires reflected to him in the Mirror. of Erised. So in this movie, Harry for. the first time will start to really get. to know who James was and how he doesn't. always need to defend his father's. memory. So Harry responds by inflating. Aunt Marge. Editor Stephen Weisberg. crushes [snorts]. the escalating chaos here. Initially, it's just Marge's fingertips that. inflates a practical prop just to kind. of sell the VFX inflation that will. follow. Even when Marge gets well. underway, Dudley still does not notice. You can just see him sitting there. calmly watching the TV mindlessly. When.
he finally does notice, just because the. beads of her necklace hit his plate, he. suddenly panics, likely recalling the. painful pigtail that he got the last. time wizards unleashed their wrath on. his family. I love the quick cuts of. Harry Melling just getting sniped by. Marge's beads and a buttons and never be. allowed off the floor. That plus the. little story that Vernon gives when he. finally lets Marge float away. Ah, this. sequence, chef's kiss. Harry charges up. to his bedroom and angrily kicks the. furniture. The first time we've really. seen this kind of raw rage from Daniel. Radcliffe, showing a new maturity in the.
young actor's performance and a spark. with the teenage cast from Cuarón that. we didn't see in the previous films. And. listen closely to the chime music here. as we push into the framed photo of. James and Lily on the nightstand. Prisoner of Azkaban was the final Harry. Potter film that John Williams would. compose the music for. And while Flight. of the Hippogriff and the Frog Choir. song are perhaps more noticeable, this. theme is quietly the most affecting. It's called A Window to the Past, which. is a fitting wordplay on the way these. photos from Hagrid are both windows to.
the past metaphorically, their own. pocket-sized mirrors of Erised, but also. the entire third act of the film is a. literal window to the past. We hear this. theme again when Harry is on the. footbridge with Lupin and Lupin brings. up Lily. Williams plays it on a baroque. recorder for that scene. Not the only witch. She was a singularly. gifted witch. She was also an uncommonly kind woman. We also hear the theme for the first. time Harry successfully casts a Patronus. wisp in the classroom, played with. victorious horns. [music].
So, this music is really the music of. the warm memory of Harry's parents. guiding his heart through the darkness. YouTube channel SEO Music did an amazing. analysis of this theme and how it uses. the Aeolian mode or natural minor to. give an actual sense of peace. On. Harry's bedroom wall, there's a comic. for The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the. Mad Muggle. This was introduced in the. second book as a comic strip Ron liked. to read and had a stack of it at the. Burrow. It's about a stereotypical. hapless non-magical Frenchman. Harry. flees into the night and you can see in. the distance Aunt Marge continuing to. float over the neighborhood screaming.
for help. Harry notices the creepy. danger of his surroundings suddenly. The. merry-go-round, the swings, the seesaw. smacking in the mud. It's not just a. vibe, but literally Harry leaving the. Dursleys has resulted in Harry exiting. the protective charm that was placed. around his house. That was linked to. Petunia via her sister Lily's blood. connection to Harry. Like the sacrifice. Lily made is what protected Harry from. Voldemort's curse. And that blood. protection stays in place under. Petunia's domicile until Harry comes of. age. In the book, Harry sees a large. dog-like creature, its eyes peering out.
at him from the bushes. Here, it's just. a straight-up dog that barks and growls. at Harry and then disappears when the. Knight Bus pulls in. We later find out. that this is actually Sirius in his. Animagus form and he just wanted to get. a look at Harry. Harry is picked up by. the Knight Bus. The conductor, Stan. Shunpike, and the driver, Ernie, were. actually named after the author's two. grandfathers, Stanley and Ernest. A lot. of the effects in this film are. practical. Like the Knight Bus was. created taking a double-decker London. bus and adding an additional level to it. and then painting it purple. In the. book, Harry's worried that because he. had used unsanctioned magic, he might be.
in some deep with the Ministry and. they might be hunting him down to. discipline him. So, when Stan Shunpike. asks his name, he lies and says it's. Neville Longbottom. In this scene, he. just says that he never gave his name. Harry and Neville though are often. framed as parallel characters as they. were both born in the same month of July. 1980. And Voldemort thought that either. boy could be the prophecy chosen one. This is a correction from the past. breakdown where I said that they shared. the same birthday. It's just one day. apart. Neville was July 30th, Harry was. July 31st. Either way, this is why. Neville's parents were, you know, tortured to the point of insanity. Announcing the stops is a new character, Drehead, a shrunken head voiced by.
comedian Lenny Henry, a character not in. the books. He warns about the pea soup. at the The Cauldron. Hey, you got having. soup, make sure you eat it before it. eats you. Later at the Leaky Cauldron, Cornelius. Fudge will offer Harry some pea soup and. Harry. declines. Harry sees an article about. Sirius Black played in this movie by the. great Gary Oldman. He took the role in. part to make his son's happy. You'll. notice Sirius' prisoner number starts. with runes translating to P and Z. followed by 390 making this prisoner. 390. In the book, Harry finds out about. Sirius before he ever sets foot on the.
bus from the Muggle news that the. Dursleys are watching. Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic, had notified the. Muggle Prime Minister about his escape. so that they could warn the non-magical. population. Since everyone believes that. Sirius Black murdered a bunch of Muggles. right before he was captured. That's. what this article says that basically. Black is still at large. He escaped from. Azkaban and Fudge had to inform the. Muggles but is urging everyone to stay. calm. It's never stated in the film how. Sirius Black broke out of Azkaban. He's. the only person to ever successfully do. it but no one knows that he is an. Animagus since he taught himself and. never registered with the Ministry. And. the Dementors can't read animal emotions.
that well. So, Sirius transformed into a. dog and slipped through the bars one day. when they came to feed him and then swam. to shore since Azkaban is on an island. because it's based on Alcatraz. The. Knight Bus squeezes to fit between two. normal London double-decker buses and we. hear some accordion music to comedically. evoke the cartoons where characters, you. know, get squished and then fan out like. accordions. Hey guys. Guys, why the long faces? We should also note that the Knight Bus. appears to dilate time here. Like it.
slows down time. And it might just be to. show off the cool visual effect but it. suggests that wizards have some control. over time manipulation. The back of the. Daily Prophet newspaper has a wizard's. crossword puzzle with diamond blocks. that can create words diagonally. diagonally diagonally. You can actually see a close-up of this. crossword puzzle and its various clues. and you can try to fill out these clues. yourself. I don't think the puzzle. itself was designed to be solvable. though. Tom, the innkeeper at the Leaky. Cauldron, gets a recast here. He was. played by Derek Deadman in Sorcerer's. Stone. Here he's played by Jim Tavare. with a very different look and a.
different vibe, more similar to Igor. from Frankenstein. The sign of the pub. is also changed. In the first film, it. was blank, but when witches or wizards. got close it filled in. Here, it's just. a simple iron sign with a witch stirring. a cauldron. Throughout the film, there. are clocks and details that foreshadow. the time element. Time! Here, there's an. example where a wizard is seen reading. Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of. Time. This wizard is actually cameo from. Stone Roses lead singer Ian Brown. The. Leaky Cauldron is also filled with. awesome practical magic, like when the. barback wipes the table, he tucks the. bottle into his cloth and makes it.
disappear. Actually, what's happening is. he's using a bit of force perspective as. he's turning the bottle toward the. camera so that from the camera's. perspective, it is kind of just like. flat in his hand. Upstairs, Harry is. greeted by Cornelius Fudge, who tells. him that he's not in trouble for blowing. up Marge. Now, he doesn't tell Harry, but this is because everyone is so. worried that Sirius Black is going to. murder Harry that they were just. relieved to find the kid alive and. unhurt and want him back in the safety. of Hogwarts. Fudge is played by Robert. Hardy, and from his warm demeanor. forgiving Harry right now for inflating. his aunt later forms a stark contrast.
with his shifted attitude to Harry for. smaller, more understandable uses of. magic in Order of the Phoenix. Also, in. the background of this room, another. time motif, the swinging pendulum of the. grandfather clock. We see the Monster. Book of Monsters that Hagrid put on the. book list for the students' Care of. Magical Creatures class, and it's. written by the wizard named Edwardus. Lima. He's named after Eduardo Lima, one. of the two graphic artists of this film. and on all the Harry Potter films, and. he puts in a lot of little name cameos. for himself throughout the films. We got. to shout out this amazing moment. keep him.
I'll come back later. So, when Harry exits his room, Hermione's cat Crookshanks is chasing. Scabbers. Now, in the book, there is a. huge plot line about how Crookshanks is. more than just an average cat and keeps. trying to capture Scabbers. It turns out. that Crookshanks knows Scabbers is not. really a rat, but actually Peter. Pettigrew, the wizard who framed Sirius. Black for betraying the Potters, and. Sirius starts working with Crookshanks. to bring Scabbers to him. But, the. Crookshanks versus Scabbers conflict is. a huge source of tension between Ron and. Hermione. Crookshanks is played by two.
different cats in this movie that the. trainers made to look more mangy by. matting up balls of fur and attaching. them to the cats. Rupert Grint and Emma. Watson return for this film. Emma Watson. was excited to finally be able to wear. proper pants for these films. It's. because Alfonso Cuarón wanted to do away. with the school uniforms in the first. two movies and he told these kids to. basically dress themselves and add. things to their wardrobe. Now, the. newspaper clipping with Ron and his. family in Egypt is a hugely important. detail. The headline reads, "Prize. winner visits Egypt." Mr. Weasley won a. contest at work and it allowed the whole. family to visit the eldest Weasley,
Bill, who works as a curse-breaker for. Gringotts Bank in Egypt. Does that mean. that the goblins are like tomb-raiding? Are they just like stealing Egyptian. gold? But, the whole story of this is. that when Cornelius Fudge visited. Azkaban, Sirius Black saw him with a. copy of the newspaper this clipping came. from and asked to read it and then he. looked at this photo and freaked out. because in that photo he saw Ron holding. his old pal Wormtail and realized that. Peter Pettigrew is back at Hogwarts, meaning he would be within striking. distance of Harry Potter. And that is. what convinces Sirius Black to finally. break out of prison and go on the move.
This clipping is actually the one time. all Weasleys appear together in the. films and it's the only appearance of. Ron's second oldest brother, Charlie. But, this is one of my favorite scenes. in the film. It's a long take by Alfonso. Cuarón that doesn't really call any. attention to itself. Like, Alfonso. Cuarón is known for these famous long. takes that you know are long takes. The. car scene in Children of Men and then. the later third act scene in Children of. Men, many sequences in Gravity are all. one take. But, this one is just pretty. subtle. It just uses dynamic blocking to. provide exposition, kind of like. Spielberg's wonder on the ferry in Jaws. This shot lasts 1 minute 50 seconds and.
it's just a master class in camera. movement and well-timed blocking by all. the actors. We start with the floating. tea kettle over a wide shot of the table. and later in the shot, Percy will. actually draw tea from this into two. cups in an unbroken stream without. cutting. The camera follows Arthur. Weasley and Harry as they transition. from different parts of the room and the. camera gets closer and closer and closer. to Harry. While at the center of the. scene is the menacing mug shot of Sirius. Black. On this photo, by the way, the. runes translate to more or less human, which is apt since Sirius turns out to.
be a human who can transform into an. animal. Mr. Weasley, during the scene, fills in Harry on the fact that they. think Sirius Black escaped from prison. to find him while leaving out the. details on why that Sirius, as far as. the wizarding world knows, betrayed. Harry's parents and was directly. responsible for their death and blames. Harry for Voldemort's downfall. This. long take ends with this moment. Why would I go looking for someone who. wants to kill me? An amazing long take by Cuarón, an. amazing edit by Weisberg. The train. whistle evokes Lily's scream, the way.
the Hogwarts Express train whistle will. mix with the scream later in the. Dementor scene, and we cut from Harry's. question to the one dark wizard in this. equation trying to kill Harry, Peter. Pettigrew, who was nearly foiled from. getting to Hogwarts here as Ron almost. forgot the rat, but Molly rushed the rat. back into the story. On the train to Hogwarts, Harry, Ron, and Hermione take the one remaining. compartment occupied by a sleeping Remus. Lupin, which Hermione gathers from his. luggage. Lupin is likely recovering from. being a werewolf, and what's fun about.
this is that since the Harry Potter. stories are set in the early '90s, this. day would be September 1st, 1993, and if. you look back at the lunar calendar, the. night before that was actually a full. moon. But, the train stops on the bridge. and the temperature drops. Remus's water. bottle freezes, which, plus the rain on. the windows, is kind of Cuarón's version. of the rippling water cup from Jurassic. Park. And since the train is on a. bridge, which I think would be the same. bridge that Harry and Ron's car nearly. got run off the tracks by the Hogwarts. Express, it makes Harry and the others. feel particularly trapped as they'd be. unable to run off the train to flee.
Scabbers hides inside Ron's coat when. the Dementor enters the compartment. Since Peter Pettigrew was a Death Eater, he knows it should be him in Azkaban. The Dementor enters the compartment in. search for Sirius Black and performs on. Harry the Dementor's Kiss to suck the. soul right out of a person that leaves. them an empty shell of their old self, a. fate worse than death. Or expulsion. Worse, expelled. And Daniel Radcliffe here to, I guess, support this idea of it being a kiss. He. kind of purses his lips like I'm sure he. does when he pretends his pillow is Cho. Chang. So, to make the visual of the. Dementors, the art department started.
with a cloth puppet underwater to give. them a surreal floating movement. Then. they reversed the footage and animated. over it. The author apparently based the. Dementors on a recurring nightmare she. had as a teenager being chased by. floating hooded figures. To her, they. symbolize depression, which is why their. kiss leaves a person alive but a shell. of their old self. And we bring up these. influences from J.K. Rowling because, yes, a very thoughtful creative mind. dreamt up this world on the page and we. appreciate that. We just wish that she. could rest on those laurels without. miring her legacy in controversy. For.
our full statement on the author, please. review this part of our first breakdown. of the series. Also, please consider. supporting one of the important. organizations listed in the description. below. Harry hears a scream in his head. [music]. It's later revealed to be his mother's. scream from right before Voldemort. killed her. I just love this detail. where they mix the scream with the sound. of the train whistle. The Dementor is. driven back by Remus Lupin and he's. played by David Thewlis. Lupin has two. long scars across his face, which carry. over when he transforms into a werewolf.
The implication is that this wound was. caused when he himself was attacked by a. werewolf as a child. The author was. always pretty obvious with the way that. she names characters. Remus, as in Remus. and Romulus, the twin founders of Rome. who were suckled by a she-wolf. And. Lupin coming from lupus, Latin for wolf. Meanwhile, Sirius is named after the. canine constellation. Lupin gives Harry. some chocolate that I suppose he just. carries around in his pocket, loose. Like I guess he could have gotten it. from the snack cart, but this guy is. always packing pocket chocolate. Chocolate is known to trigger the. release of endorphins in your brain, which make you feel happy. After seeing.
the first-year students arrive at the. castle by enchanted boats, we now see. that third-years get there by stagecoach. pulled by unseen creatures that, in. Order of the Phoenix, are revealed to be. the Thestrals, creatures that are only. visible to anyone who has seen death. Now, why doesn't Harry see them if he. witnessed his mother's murder when he. was one or upon seeing Quirrell die? Well, the author explained that when he. was a baby, Harry didn't fully. understand the context of what he was. seeing with his mother and that Harry. was passed out when Quirrell died. But, she did point out that there's a plot. hole at the end of the Goblet of Fire. when Harry takes the stagecoach is back.
to Hogsmeade station. He should have. seen the Thestrals then, but that scene. is not in the films. But, I have to. admit it was pretty fun seeing these. carriages in the film in summer 2004. after reading Order of the Phoenix the. previous summer in 2003 and knowing what. was really pulling them. The frog choir. in the Great Hall was not in the book, but Alfonso Cuarón was inspired by the. three witches from Macbeth and insisted. on adding them in quoting their bubble, bubble, toil and trouble and something. wicked this way comes lines from. Shakespeare's play. Conducting the choir. is Warwick Davis as Professor Flitwick. who got a major redesign in this film.
that carries through for the rest of the. series. Dumbledore was recast after. Richard Harris's death. Michael Gambon. is now stepping in. While Richard Harris. might have been a better fit for the. version of Dumbledore that was in our. heads, Gambon plays the character with a. more spry whimsy that I would argue. better suits this story. Like this is a. Dumbledore who would give Hermione a. time turner, a very risky decision, but. one made, I believe, with unseen hours, days, and maybe years of calculation. I'll get to that at the end of this. video. Also, an update to the Harry. Potter series coming to HBO in 2027, Mark Rylance is being eyed to play.
Dumbledore on that series and I believe. he captures that whimsy and wisdom of. the character pretty well. Severus Snape. gives only the tiniest of claps after. Remus Lupin is introduced as the new. Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. because obviously that's the job that. Snape wanted and Lupin was one of the. four kids who tormented him when he was. a student there. Dumbledore announces. that Hagrid will be taking over the job. of Care of Magical Creatures. Hagrid was. expelled from Hogwarts in his third year. when it was thought that he had opened. the Chamber of Secrets, but the events. of the previous film cleared his name. making it possible for him to actually. work at the school as a teacher. The Fat. Lady is another recast now played by.
Dawn French. The mother and the baby in. the painting next to her are actually. cameos from Alfonso Cuarón's wife and. his daughter. The knight in the suit of. armor galloping through the paintings in. the background is Sir Cadogan, who had a. much bigger role in the books. There was. actually a deleted scene of him taking. over the job of Gryffindor portrait. leading to their common room after the. Fat Lady was attacked by Sirius Black. As Sir Cadogan is the only painting. crazy and brave enough to guard the door. with Sirius Black on the loose. And he. keeps trying to challenge the kids. before letting them through. There's. actually a moment later on when behind. Harry and Hermione as they look at the. Fat Lady portrait when it's been torn,
you can see Sir Cadogan grinding up on a. woman in another painting as she shoves. him away. Sir Cadogan, again, come on, dude. Actually, to the right of the Fat. Lady is another painting with someone. some viewers thought was actually. Voldemort, but it's more likely a. vampire based on Nosferatu. The. Gryffindors enter the common room and. Dean Thomas passes through a ghost and. then wipes himself grossed out. The text. passing through a ghost is known to. produce the sensation of an icy chill. They goof around in the room. Harry eats. some Pepper Imps candy that makes the. eater blow steam out of their ears. There was actually an ad for these. earlier on the Knight Bus. The candy. that makes them all sound like animals.
was not in the books, but according to. the Harry Potter Wiki, it's called. Elephant on a Bicycle. Seamus has a. Gryffindor necktie around his head. Dean. reads the same wizard comic that was on. Harry's bedroom wall. This is just a fun. vignette of messy teenage chaos that we. don't see much of in the earlier films. in a big contrast to the terrifying pull. out of the Dementors floating around the. grounds. Next, another reminder of time, a new clock tower built for this film. Hogwarts gate did not have a clock tower. in the previous films, but here the. design looks similar to the Prague. astronomical clock showing us the clock. tower here works as a kind of save the. clock tower foreshadowing that we saw in.
the opening act of Back to the Future. Cuarón's magical floating camera follows. a hummingbird through these new parts of. the Hogwarts grounds, the clock tower. gate, the courtyard with a fountain, and. statues of eagles eating snakes, which. is just like on the national seal for. Mexico, one of many ways Cuarón adds. bits of his Mexican heritage into the. film. And then we go to the new wooden. footbridge set. It's another piece added. to this expanded version of Hogwarts in. this third film. While the rotating. staircases in the first film felt like a. CGI MC Escher deviation from the books, this footbridge is twisted and. impractical, but real. It's just gloomy.
enough to allow for private moments of. reflection, and it gives the rest of the. series an outdoor set that makes. Hogwarts feel like its own fantasy. school as opposed to like a wizard. version of Oxford. Like Hogwarts seemed. to be like on one flat surface in the. first two films. Now, there's like. sweeping hills and gaping chasms that. the characters have to traverse to get. from one part of it to another. And we. see the Hummingbird floating out of the. Stonehenge structure down the hill. toward Hagrid's cabin. This whole. sequence is designed to establish some. scenic geography that will become. critical in the third act. The previous. two films didn't really establish how.
the different parts of Hogwarts were. linked, but now we see exactly how long. it takes to get from one part of the. grounds to another. And that exact. timing will become so, so important. From here, we glide to the Whomping. Willow, which we also saw in Chamber of. Secrets when the Weasley family car. crashed into it. Throughout the film, Cuarón will use the appearance of this. tree to mark the seasons, another fun. way he shows time. On to Divination. class with Professor Sybill Trelawney, played by Emma Thompson, who took this. role to impress her 4-year-old daughter. after Tilda Swinton had turned it down. Divination is a new class for third. years. In the book, Trelawney is mostly.
a fraud who every year predicts that one. student will die or have otherwise. unfortunate luck. It's later revealed. though that she is the one who cast the. Chosen One prophecy that essentially. caused Voldemort to go after Harry and. his parents. And when Voldemort did. actually believe that prophecy and. target the Potters in July 1980, Dumbledore's like, "Shit. I better give. her a job at Hogwarts and just kind of. keep an eye on her just in case the. broken clock is right a second time.". Cuarón establishes a shot of Harry and. Ron alone at their table, and then when. we cut back to them a few moments later, Hermione is suddenly sitting among them. And you can actually see her tucking in.
the Time-Turner necklace into her robes, having just used it. The gold chain of. it is visible throughout the film around. her neck, and we don't even think about. it. And she often just appears in places. where she wasn't just a second before. I. always wondered why the kid sitting. behind them didn't react to Hermione. suddenly sitting there. But actually, when Trelawney says, "Beyond." And all. the kids in the room look upward. confused, they do that so that they. wouldn't be looking forward at the table. right in front of them. Just amazing. attention to detail. All the mischief in. this movie is managed. Ron reads Harry's. tea leaves. You're going to suffer. Mhm? But you're going to be happy about it.
There's definitely a way to read this. for what Harry will go through in this. movie. He suffers upon realizing that it. wasn't his father who cast the Patronus, but still is filled with happiness. Literally, when casting the Patronus, when he realizes he cast the Patronus. that saves himself. Now, the new layout. of the grounds is really on display when. the trio has to hike down to visit. Hagrid's. They now have to go down the. stairs to reach this hut, which has a. second section added to it from the. previous iteration. Cuarón wanted to. make Hogwarts feel like a real. interconnected place instead of just a. series of sets. As Ron questions. Hermione about how she could be both in.
Ancient Runes and Divination when the. classes are at the same time, you can. both hear the clock tower donging in the. background and see the Time-Turner. around Hermione's neck. Time. Hagrid now teaches Care of Magical. Creatures. In this scene, you can really. see how the students have let loose with. their uniforms. Cuarón instructed all. the kid actors to tie their own ties and. fashion their uniforms as they naturally. would, and that's why Harry and Ron's. ties are complete disasters, and. Seamus's tie ends in a weird knot that. looks like his wand Irish car bombed it.
Or maybe he just when he tied it around. his head earlier, it was in such a weird. knot that he couldn't untie it, so he's. just like, "Oh, whatever." Hagrid introduces his. class to Buckbeak, the Hippogriff. Hippogriffs are described as having the. bodies, hind legs, and tail of a horse, and the front legs, wings, and head of a. giant eagle. A crazy CGI detail here, Buckbeak poops. Yep, look closely as Ron. pushes Harry toward the creature. They. discuss this in the DVD commentary, and. apparently, it was the first time in. film history in which a CGI character. poops on screen, and they worked really. hard to make it realistic. But the messy. clothes of the students' uniforms also.
set up this romantic moment. Ah, this contact wouldn't mean nearly as. much if Ron hadn't rolled his sleeve up, forcing some skin-to-skin contact. Cuarón encouraged more physical contact. between the actors, telling them to hug. or lean on one another whenever it felt. natural. And a generation of movie. watchers in 2004 started to feel things. they hadn't felt before. Harry properly. bows to Buckbeak and they go for a ride. Now in the book, Buckbeak only flies. Harry around the paddock a few times and. Harry does not enjoy it. But here,
screenwriter Steve Kloves saw this as. Harry being able to free himself from. his earthly problems. He's no longer earthbound and he's no. longer burdened by all the problems that. he [music] has when he's on the ground. If he could only fly forever, he'd be. all right. Actually, the concept of flight plays an. important role in this movie. From Harry. watching Aunt Marge float away, he. spends most of this movie grounded, kind. of trapped in place, unable to visit. Hogsmeade, unable to even fly when his.
broomstick gets destroyed by the. Whomping Willow. He's plagued by beings. that shouldn't be able to fly in this. movie, but can. And I think that's kind. of why Alfonso Cuarón gave the Dementors. the ability to fly so that they could. plague this person who's stuck on the. ground. And so this flight of the. Hippogriff is an important escape for. Harry. It's the release he longs for, as. Dumbledore will sum up later. In dreams, we enter a world that's. entirely our own. Let them swim in the. deepest ocean. or glide over the highest cloud.
It also sets up the catharsis of the. final shot of the film as Harry. freeze-frames on the Firebolt given to. him by Sirius. Unfortunately, it's a one. choice by Alfonso Cuarón that just kind. of looks a bit goofy to me. Doesn't. really hold up. Malfoy disrespects. Buckbeak and Hippogriff scratches his. arm as Hagrid carries Malfoy away. Buckbeak nuzzles up to Harry and squawks. something that I assume translates to, "I did it for you, daddy." In the Great. Hall, Malfoy milks his wound to. Slytherin girl Pansy Parkinson, played. here by Genevieve Gaunt. A new. Gryffindor boy is introduced, Bem, played by Ekow Quartey. He doesn't exist.
in the book as he would have to be a. third-year Gryffindor boy and the only. year three Gryffindor boys are Ron, Harry, Neville, Dean, Seamus. But Ekow. Quartey returns in Order of the Phoenix. and Dumbledore's Army, but then he's a. Ravenclaw student. So it seems like they. fixed the error there. Now, an update to. my tabulation of Hogwarts students based. on Harry's incoming Gryffindor class. size that I mentioned in our first movie. breakdown. When Harry enters Hogwarts in. 1990, that makes him the incoming class. of 1997. The boys sorted to Gryffindor. include Harry, Ron, Neville, Dean, and. Seamus. The Gryffindor girls of that. class are Hermione, Lavender Brown, and. Parvati Patil, which is eight incoming.
Gryffindors for that year. And if you. were to apply less than 10 across the. school, that would mean no more of than. 280 kids, right? Well, a lot of you. replied that other Harry Potter creators. on YouTube have explored the subject as. well, like the Super Carlin Brothers. Hey, brothers. Super nice guys that I. have met a few times. I really love them. and they have postulated that because. Harry came into Hogwarts as part of a. generation affected by Voldemort's reign. of terror with the murders of several. wizards and witches that there would. just be fewer students in his. generation. Now, obviously those. killings didn't stop the Weasleys from.
putting up Mormon numbers, but arguably. Molly and Arthur had so many kids in. addition to trying for a girl because. they expected to lose a few to Death. Eaters. Anyway, on to Defense Against. the Dark Arts. This Boggart scene is. awesome. It starts with the shot of the. cabinet mirror door and we glide through. that mirror to reveal, hey, hey, the. scene we were in actually started as a. mirror's reflection and we are now. leaving the mirror world back into. reality. I love this. It's an insane. camera trick used perhaps most famously. by Robert Zemeckis in Contact. Cuarón.
uses this transition to set up. Hermione's sudden appearance. Like in. the earlier part of the shot, Hermione's. not in the room, but then as the camera. glides into reality past Harry and Ron, Hermione is suddenly there. Lupin. explains what Boggarts are and the charm. to repel them, ridiculous, that plus. laughter. He invites Neville up and asks. what scares Neville the most and he says. Professor Snape. In the book, when they. are dealing with the Boggart, they have. just come from Potions where Snape was. bullying Neville and just generally. being awful to him, hence why he's got. Snape on the top of mind as the thing he. fears the most. Lupin also says, And I believe you live with your.
grandmother. Yes, but I don't want that Boggart to. turn into her, either. Now, Remus Lupin was actually friends. with Frank and Alice Longbottom as they. were all members of the original Order. of the Phoenix. And Lupin knows that. they were tragically tortured to the. point of insanity. So, the kids line up. and notice how Malfoy shoves Neville. using his arm that's in the sling and he. doesn't flinch, a clear sign that Malfoy. is totally faking his injury. As the. boggart shapeshifts, you can actually. see other major fears that it toggles. through. We see like a man's face, which. might be a clown or a creepy toy, and we. see a collie and crow, and then we see a.
reptilian creature, and then eventually. a giant black widow spider for Ron. Obviously, Ron hates spiders as we saw. with Aragog in the second film. And this. arachnophobia came from Ron being. tormented by Fred when Ron was a. toddler, when Fred had transfigured. Ron's teddy bear into a large spider. For Parvati Patil, in the book, it's a. mummy that she causes to trip over its. own bandages, but in this scene we see a. giant cobra snake that she turns into a. jack-in-the-box, which is also pretty. creepy. In the book, we learn that for. Dean Thomas, it's a disembodied hand. that Dean traps in a mousetrap. We also. see Seamus Finnigan's boggart form, a.
banshee that he causes to lose his. voice. But for Harry, it turns into a. dementor. Lupin jumps in front of Harry. and then the boggart turns into a full. moon, obviously his greatest fear. As a. werewolf, he deflates it like a balloon, which I assume is what Aunt Marge looked. like when the Ministry deflated her. In. the book, it's just described as a. silvery orb, not specifically a moon, and some students don't see it as a. moon, just kind of like as a divination. ball or something else. Lupin zips the. boggart back into the cabinet and we end. the scene as we began it, gliding back. into the mirror world and Harry's scar.
is now on the wrong side of his head. So, we just feel that something is now. off about Harry. As McGonagall prepares. the students to go to Hogsmeade, there. is a big swinging pendulum, another. indication of time. Harry isn't allowed. to go with his class because he never. got Uncle Vernon to sign the permission. slip. So, it leads to the scene with. Harry talking to Lupin on the bridge. It's an example of one that, in the. hands of a less skilled director, might. have been done with a bunch of cuts, but. Cuarón opts to linger on the two actors. in one long take as they bond over the. story of Harry's parents. This is. actually the same framing as the earlier. moment at the Dursleys when Harry was. facing the camera in the foreground. overhearing Marge, Petunia, and Vernon.
talking about his parents in the. background and he smiled before hearing. the insult. Now, Harry smiles with. relief to hear Remus talk fondly about. his parents. Lupin says that Harry has. his mother's eyes, but that he shares. his father's knack for getting into. trouble. You're more like them than you know, Harry. In time, you'll [music] come to see just. how much. And what time? On their way back into. Gryffindor common room, Ron mentions the. Shrieking Shack. If you listen closely, You don't have to get a chance to go to. the Shrieking Shack, though. You heard. that it's the most haunted building in. Britain.
Yeah, I know. Ah, it's a subtle line, but the fact. that they never got to visit the. Shrieking Shack for sure. That was the. fact that Sirius had been using the. Shack as a hiding spot during this time. Now, the Shrieking Shack was built when. Remus Lupin came to school at Hogwarts. to give him a place to privately turn. into a werewolf. Dumbledore encouraged. the rumor that the noises the villagers. heard were because the house was. haunted, so that people would stay away. and not stumble on Lupin during the. transformation. They discover the Fat. Lady portrait has been slashed and the. Fat Lady is missing. So many fun details. in the other portraits here. Alfonso. Cuarón's baby is now crying. Again, Sir.
Cadogan is assaulting people. People are. crossing into other paintings. A giraffe. is galloping through. As Dumbledore. approaches, Sir Cadogan is shouting. slashing at other random wizards in. paintings. The giraffe runs into the. painting where they find the Fat Lady. hiding behind a hippo in the Serengeti. And this whole visual of wild exotic. animals running amok to evoke chaos was. something that Alfonso Cuarón would use. in Children of Men along with his. awesome long takes. So, all the students. sleep in sleeping bags together in the. Great Hall. Snape tells Dumbledore. to enter Hogwarts castle on one's own. completely undetected. Prior to the.
start of term, I did express concerns. about your appointment of Professor. professor inside this castle would help. Sirius Black to enter us. Snape was about to tell Dumbledore to. consider the possibility that Black's. old school buddy Lupin might be aiding. him in entering the castle. During the. shooting of this scene, Alfonso Cuarón. and Michael Gambon played a prank on. Daniel Radcliffe by putting a fart sound. machine in his sleeping bag. We enter completely our own world. You know, it's completely our own world. And we.
like to we like to swim in the. [laughter]. So, the falling leaves in the Whomping. Willow indicates the shift to autumn. time. Snape substitutes for Lupin in. Defense Against the Dark Arts, and he. makes the bright and sunny classroom as. dim as his usual dungeons by slamming. shut each window with a you you you. and uh. Turn to page 394. Snape [laughter] is obsessed with this. page number. Loss of limb will not excuse you.
Page 394. My theory is that he's quoting Sirius's. prison number, 390, and that Sirius was. actually one of the four of his. tormentors. So, you get 394. And I guess. it just kind of like works out that. that's the page for werewolves. Shut up. Once again, the establishing shot leaves. an empty desk beside Harry, while Ron is. paired up with them for whatever reason. And only when Snape goes to the back of. the class and directs everyone's. attention to their textbooks, poof, Hermione appears. Time Turner, not even. hidden around her neck. Snape makes them. learn about werewolves, and he gives.
them homework because he is trying to. out-Lupin by giving his students all the. signs about werewolves that he can. And. if you watch this movie, it actually. works for Hermione. He's a werewolf. That's why he's been. missing classes. How long have you known? Since Professor Snape set the essay. And during the slideshow, real art. throughout the ages is referenced, altered slightly to include werewolves. The first is based on the 6,000-year-old. Cumberland Plateau rock drawings. The. next shows Egyptian art depicting the. wolf deity Wepwawet. The third is. Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man with. the man replaced by a werewolf. The.
fourth is Greek pottery resembling the. work of Dolon in a wolf skin from the. Iliad. During the Quidditch match, the. Hufflepuff seeker who gets hit by the. lightning is Cedric Diggory, who in the. next film will be played by Robert. Pattinson. Here he's played by Joe. Livermore, and he has no real speaking. lines. Compared to the previous two. films, Prisoner of Azkaban's Quidditch. match leaves much to be desired, and it. deviates quite a bit from the text. In. the book, Malfoy and his buddies prank. Harry by dressing up as Dementors and. standing by the pitch, which the closest. we get in this movie is Malfoy and the. others raising their hoods and messing. with Harry during Hagrid's class. Also,
in the book, Harry sees Sirius in dog. form in the stands. He goes because he. wants to see his godson playing the. match. In the film, Harry just sees the. form of the Grim in the clouds. Also, yes, the Dementors fly and it results in. the Dementors being kind of like. bat-like demons and not the stalking. creepers they are in the text. I get. Cuarón wanting to heighten them into. aerial threats to make them more. cinematic in three dimensions, but it's. just kind of an overstep. Now, in the. book, Cedric Diggory wants to forfeit. his catching of the Snitch because he. thinks it isn't fair that Harry has. fainted and nearly fell to his death. He's so honorable. Here, the kid just. gets zapped. That's my boy!
And you can see the other Hufflepuffs in. the infirmary afterward crowding around. him. So, presumably, the match was a. forfeit. Hedwig flies across the lake. giving us another amazing transition of. the seasons to winter and we now see. Harry inside of the clock tower lost in. time. Fred and George catch Harry trying. to sneak out of Hogsmeade in the. invisibility cloak and they drag him. back. Now, Fred and George aren't. supposed to know about the invisibility. cloak. I suppose they just see Harry's. feet in the snow. In the book, they. don't even catch him in the cloak. They. just kind of find him and they feel bad. for him. Fred and George give Harry the. Marauder's Map. Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and.
Prongs. are proud to present. the Marauder's Map. Now, the film doesn't really make time. to explain the full backstory of this. map, but obviously, Moony is Lupin, the. werewolf. Wormtail is Peter Pettigrew, the rat Animagus form. Padfoot is Sirius. Black, the dog Animagus form. And Prongs. is James Potter, stag Animagus form. Sirius, James, and Peter each learned to. become an Animagus so that they could. hang out with Lupin when he transformed. into a werewolf. During these full moon. periods, they would explore Hogsmeade in.
animal form and discovered a lot of. hidden entrances to Hogwarts which. inspired them to create the map. Fred. and George stole this map from Filch's. office in their first year. Now, the art. on this map prop was designed by. Miraphora Mina, the other half of the. MinaLima artist team. On the cover of. the map that shows the Hogwarts castle. exterior, it includes the Whomping. Willow made out of the letters of the. text of the words Whomping Willow. And. the incredibly intricate way in which. the map folds by itself was created by. illusionist Paul Kiev who cameos at. three broomsticks later showing off some. close-up magic of turning one candle.
into two. This map includes the name if. you look closely Newt Scamander. Newt. Scamander of course the author of. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. played by Eddie Redmayne in the spin-off. films. Now Newt Scamander was around. well before Harry's time. It's unlikely. that he's actually in Hogwarts walking. around. This is just a fun little Easter. egg. But this map is filled with cool. little details especially during the end. credits where you see Robbie Coltrane's. footprints are noticeably larger on the. map since you know Hagrid's feet would. be bigger. Fred and George tell Harry. that there are seven secret passageways. out of Hogwarts. In the book they say. that Filch knows about four of them. One.
of them has been caved in and one will. lead Harry straight to Honeydukes and. one has the Whomping Willow right on top. of it. They discount that last one. saying no one would get in that way but. that is the entrance Sirius Black has. been using since he was a student there. The book also goes into why Peter. Pettigrew chose a rat form of his. Animagus. It was so that he could crawl. under the Whomping Willow's branches and. touch a notch on the tree that would. subdue it. The movie doesn't include. that little detail. They just kind of. show Lupin at one point using an. Alohomora spell to subdue the tree. Harry gets into Honeydukes sweet shop. and there's a whole bunch of sugar.
skulls which are popular during the Day. of the Dead. Another nod to Quirrell's. Mexican heritage. There are also other. candies that are mentioned in the books. like sugar mice, chocolate frogs, tooth. flossy string mints and Bertie Bott's. Every Flavor Beans. Malfoy shows up to. bully Ron and Hermione alongside Crabbe. and not Goyle. This is Pike. It's. because the Goyle actor had hurt his. arm. And it's pretty crazy how nimbly. Harry plays Whomping Willow on Malfoy, Crabbe and Pike. They're all at least a. foot taller and like a Hagrid. heavier than he is yet somehow without. the invisibility cloak slipping off him.
he's able to drag Malfoy to hell like. his dad probably used to do to Dobby. Harry uses the cloak to sneak into the. Three Broomsticks where the owner Madam. Rosmerta is played by Julie Christie. Oscar winner from Doctor Zhivago a. legend from a ton of roles and just. playing this small fun part. Harry. eavesdrop on Fudge and McGonagall. telling his murder the story of Sirius. Black, Harry's Godfather, and James and. Lily's best friend. They say he sold the. Potters out to Voldemort and then killed. Peter Pettigrew and only a finger was. found of Pettigrew. Again, there's a lot. more detail about what happened in the. book, but when Lily and James went into. hiding after discovering Voldemort might.
come after them, they used something. called a Fidelius Charm, which is a. spell that meant no one could find them. because the secret of where they were. would reside in one living person. They. initially picked Sirius Black to keep. the secret. The story everyone thinks is. that Sirius Black betrayed them to. Voldemort who caught up with them and. killed them but was done in when his. spell rebounded. And then Sirius killed. a bunch of Muggles and then Peter. Pettigrew leaving behind only a finger. But the actual story is that Sirius and. James thought they were being smart by. switching to Peter Pettigrew as a secret. keeper under the Fidelius Charm because. hey, no one would assume little Peter.
Pettigrew would hold the secret. That. ended up being a very dumb mistake. because Peter Pettigrew had been working. for Voldemort for a long time. He was. the one who sold the Potters out. We. also find out how Hagrid actually got. Sirius Black's motorcycle that night. When Hagrid had showed up with Harry at. the Dursleys, Hagrid had arrived at the. Potters' house in Godric's Hollow and. Sirius showed up. He was devastated. Hagrid took baby Harry. Sirius had. actually tried to get Hagrid to give. baby Harry over to him but Dumbledore. had expressly told Hagrid to bring Harry. to him and then Sirius Black told Hagrid. that he could take his motorcycle.
because he wouldn't be needing it. anymore. So the clearing where Harry. runs off to to cry where Hermione and. Ron find him kind of looks like a. similar clearing at winter time where. the pond will later be later in the year. in the final act of the film. So the. place where Harry declares here in. winter that he wants to kill Sirius. Black is not that far from the place. where Harry ends up saving Sirius. The. Whomping Willow shakes off the winter. snow as we move on to spring time. Lupin. teaches Harry the Patronus Charm. It. works as a shield between the person and. a Dementor. The Dementor feeds on the. happiness in a person and the charm is. just pure happiness but the Dementor.
can't harm it or drain it of its. happiness the way it can a human. The. first happy memory Harry thinks of is. the first time he wrote a broom. That. memory ain't strong enough so Harry. faints and recovers from some pocket. chocolate. Now in the book there is a. second memory that Harry thinks of, Gryffindor winning the House Cup, and. then a third when Hagrid told him, "You're a wizard." And that's a pretty. powerful memory for Harry, but Harry's. still torn because when the Dementor. gets close, he hears his mom and dad in. his worst memory, and part of him wants. to hear their voices since he hasn't. since he was a baby. But here in the. film version of the scene, Harry goes. directly to the memory of his mom and.
dad talking to him, and it does the. trick. Expecto Patronum! But afterward, Harry says this. That's the memory I chose. I don't even. know if it's real, but it's the best I. have. Hmm. So, in the first film, Harry's. parents did not talk to him in the. Mirror of Erised. So, really, the Mirror. of Erised and the photographs reminded. Harry of some abstract fragment of a. moment earlier in his life, or so Harry. thinks. I mean, that is how memory.
works. It's not an objective. transcription of things actually done. and said. It's more fluid. Our minds can. and do manufacture past moments that. didn't actually happen in order to best. fortify us for the present and the. future, and those constructions can be. just as powerful as anything else. As. Harry will later ask whether something. is in his head or if it's real. Of course it's happening inside your. head, Harry. Why should that mean. that it's not real? So, Scabbers/Pettigrew disappears, and. Ron assumes that Crookshanks ate him and. is furious at Hermione. Harry sees Peter. Pettigrew's name on the Marauder's Map.
and assumes it's defective. Now, this. moment does not happen in the book. since, you know, it'd be way too big of. a giveaway to the ending. It's actually. Remus Lupin who sees Peter Pettigrew's. name on the map, and he knows instantly. what it means. There is a clue in the. film, though. As Harry approaches the. spot on the map where Peter would be. walking directly toward him, he doesn't. see a person, but he hears these sounds. Ah, they included the sound of a rat. scurrying. Snape finds Harry in the. memory of Snape's former bullies taunts.
him. I request that he keep his abnormally. large nose out of other people's. business. But Snape gets interrupted by Lupin as. he's questioning Harry. Well, well, Lupin. Out for a little walk. in the moonlight. Uh, Alan Rickman put some stank on the. word moonlight to taunt Lupin's werewolf. status. Trelawney absolutely cooks. Hermione. Heart beats beneath your bosom as it. shrivels as an old maid's. Your soul as. dry as the pages of the books to which. you so desperately cleave.
I do love how Hermione wills herself to. prove Trelawney wrong by looping back on. history just to really know what the. future will bring. Harry returns a. crystal ball, sees Sirius in it, and. then Trelawney goes into a prophetic. trance. Tonight, he will betray his friends. Whose heart. holds with murder shall break free. Innocent blood shall be spilled, and servant and master shall be [music]. reunited once more. Trelawney's vision is much longer in the. book. Dumbledore says this is one of two.
accurate predictions Trelawney has ever. made. The other was the prediction that. a baby wizard would lead to Voldemort's. downfall, which caused Voldemort to seek. out Harry in the first place. Dumbledore. knows Trelawney is basically a fraud, but just gave her the job at Hogwarts to. keep an eye on her after that. But, there is a crazier detail from the. Prisoner of Azkaban book during the. Christmas holiday. When Trelawney is. invited to join them for the meal, and. she refuses saying that it'll make the. group of diners 13 people, and that when. 13 people dine together, the first to. rise will be the first to die. Now, folks online like this Redditor pointed. out how in that scene in the Prisoner of.
Azkaban book, they're actually already. 13 present at that Christmas dinner. because Scabbers {slash} Peter is in. Ron's pocket, and Dumbledore rises to. greet Trelawney, and he's the first. among that group to die in Half-Blood. Prince. Also, in Order of the Phoenix, there are 13 dining at Grimmauld Place, and Sirius Black is the first to rise. when he tells Molly that they should. tell Harry the truth, and then Sirius. Black dies in the Department of. Mysteries, the first to die of that. group. And then, in Deathly Hallows at. the Burrow, when they're toasting Bill. Weasley, there are 13 of them, and Lupin.
is the first to rise to say they have to. go recover Mad-Eye Moody, and Lupin is. the first of that group to die in the. Battle of Hogwarts. We come to the day. of Buckbeak's scheduled execution. The. headsman is Walden Macnair, a former. Death Eater and a friend of Lucius. Malfoy. He avoided prosecution after. Voldemort fell by claiming he had been. bewitched. Later in Goblet of Fire, when. Voldemort returns to power, this. is one of the Death Eaters. that returns to him. Now, perhaps the. coolest and hardest to spot detail in. this film comes right in this moment. Hermione, no.
He's not worth it. In the wide shot, over to the left, along the doorway of that stone. structure, up behind them on the hill, you can barely make out a little blur. moving. It's subtle, but it is there. This is future Hermione's bandaged hand. Future Hermione and future Harry are. peering down at their past selves when. these future kids will be looping back. through time upon this moment. This is. proof that Harry and Hermione's. destinies will take them into the past. to relive this day. I think it is. absolutely wild that Alfonso Cuarón put.
this tiny detail in the frame that would. be impossible for anyone to spot unless. they were watching it on DVD or maybe. for that one die-hard book reader. sitting in the second row of the cinema. knowing what would be coming in the. final act of this movie with her eyes. glued to the screen looking for any clue. of time travel and primed to look for. background Hermione's by all the. randomly appearing Hermione's throughout. the movie. This viewer saw something but. couldn't be sure and then told all of. her friends as the credits rolled, "Look. guys, I know I saw something in the. middle of the movie. I know I'm not. crazy. We're just going to have to watch.
this five more times to be sure." I got. chills the first time I spotted this. myself. It's the kind of insane detail. that only directors like Alfonso Cuarón. care enough to hide in their films. It's. the kind of detail that makes me love. getting to do this as a job. So, on the. first pass, Cuarón cleverly lays the. groundwork for the upcoming time travel. loop. When they pass Buckbeak, they see. the hanging ferrets that they will later. use to lure Buckbeak away from the. pumpkin patch. Two stones fly into. Hagrid's cabin. The first breaks the. jar, the second hits Harry in the head, and that is what gets him to turn around. to see Fudge and Dumbledore approaching.
with McNair. Future Hermione will throw. these later to alert them. And watch. Dumbledore through this sequence because. he does his part to distract Fudge and. point them to a view of the surrounding. hills so that Fudge and McNair wouldn't. see Harry and the others. Like think. about it, how many times did Dumbledore. use the Time Turner himself to loop. through the steps of this day to know to. do this? Hermione hears a twig snap. What? I thought I just saw. She of course is hearing her future. self, but the really cool detail is the. sound of a twig snapping was actually.
set up as a trigger for Hermione in an. earlier scene if you were paying. attention. When Harry faced Buckbeak in. the paddock for the first time, he. backed up and stepped on a twig, and. that snap sound scared Hermione into. grabbing Ron's arm. Back off, Harry. Back off. That moment was obviously a big. emotional breakthrough for Hermione, and. it is a sound seared into her. subconscious. They run back up the hill. and see from a distance McNair swinging. his axe behind the pumpkins, clearing. the crows, assuming Buckbeak has been.
executed. But as we'll see later, it. wasn't to behead Buckbeak, it was a. swing to split a giant pumpkin in anger. Scabbers bites Ron and flees, and a lot. of crazy stuff happens really fast. Sirius, in dog form, finds them and. drags Ron into a hole under the Whomping. Willow. Harry and Hermione get whomped. I love the Buster Keaton slapstick of. this shot. [screaming]. They follow the tunnel to the Shrieking. Shack, and Ron reveals that the Grim is. an animagus form of Sirius Black. Gary. Oldman plays Sirius Black. His hands are. covered in tattoos based on Russian.
prison gang tattoos. I think it's a. credit to Gary Oldman and David Thewlis. how they play this moment like villains. being revealed at the end of an Agatha. Christie murder mystery. But if you. listen to what they actually say, they're all being really kind and. supportive to these kids. They all got to kill me, Harry. Well, well, well, Hermione, you really. are the brightest witch of your age. Harry has the right to know why. Then Snape arrives, adding Alan Rickman. to the mix just gives us a master class. of three classically trained. heavyweights. Like, watch this.
Give me a reason. I beg you. Sirius, don't be a fool. He can't help it. He's happy about it. Sirius, BE QUIET. QUIET YOURSELF, REMUS. OH, listen to you two, quarreling like. an old married couple. But, if it's a little confusing, that's. the point. The scene is written and shot. not to be easily understood, but to be. chaotic, emotionally charged, rushed, confusing, because it's from the. perspective of kids who don't know the. full story yet. So, Harry has to choose. Trust Snape, who has caught the man who, a moment before, seemed to be about to. kill him, or trust his gut that is Snape.
doesn't like someone, they might. actually be worth hearing out. So, Harry. chooses. Expelliarmus! And Gary Oldman plays Sirius just. unhinged enough that his accusations. that Scabbers is a man sound insane. So, that when this happens, whoa. Three movies of a rat we've been hanging. out with the whole time. The whole time? The whole time you WERE. THE WHOLE TIME? AND another acting great joins the. scene, Timothy Spall. Really, we should. credit the busted piano as the VIP of.
the blocking here, the way the actors. use the piano in their spat. You did that, you spectacular git. HOW DARE YOU TALK ABOUT JAMES IN FRONT. OF ME? YOU sold James and Lily to Voldemort, didn't you? I didn't. mean to. Stop, Lord. You have no idea the weapons. you possess. And notice how there are always three. points in the conflicts of this final. act. One, the kids. Two, the Grim. Three, the Whomping Willow. Then, a bit. later, one, Sirius. Two, the kids. Three, Lupin. Then, shortly after that, one, the kids. Two, Sirius and Lupin.
Three, Snape. And then, right after. that, one, the kids. Two, Sirius and. Lupin. Three, Peter Pettigrew. The. victor of the conflict is constantly. shifting. And as soon as Harry shares a. brief hopeful moment with Sirius as a. possible godfather and caretaker to him, another conflict appears, the full moon. Snape had been making Lupin a potion the. week of the full moon so he could. control his transformation and stay in. his right mind once he had turned. But. with all the excitement he forgot to. take it tonight. They did the. transformation starting with practical. effects and prosthetics makeup on David. Thewlis. Snape shows up and he puts the. kids behind him to protect them from.
werewolf Lupin. Snape always acts in the. interest of Harry like in the first film. muttering the counter curse during the. Quidditch match. Harry saves dog Sirius. from werewolf Lupin and when Lupin turns. on him future Hermione howls in the. distance to lure him away. Harry tries to defend Sirius from the. Dementors kisses producing a small. Patronus. In the book his happy thought. is that once this is all over he'll get. to live with Sirius instead of with the. Dursleys. But it doesn't work because.
deep down Harry knows that probably. isn't possible. But the true Patronus. comes from across the frozen pond a. fully formed stag and Harry assumes it. was his father. I mean hey if these. other guys from the map have come back. from the dead why not his dad? Harry. passes out and wakes up in the infirmary. and Dumbledore is here with answers. surely. But Sirius Black an innocent man. is soon going to get the Dementors kiss. And that climax we just watched was. rushed barely 15 minutes. So what gives? Well here is where Michael Gambon. shines. Mysterious thing time powerful and when.
meddled with dangerous. You know the. laws Miss Granger. You must not be seen. Time time time. Baby here is where Prisoner of Azkaban. nearly breaks the narrative logic of the. entire series by steering into a time. travel story. Of the eight types of time. travel I have categorized in the past we. call this type four. This always. happened aka predestination. In these. types of time travel stories the very. act of heroes going back in time has. already happened to set the destiny on.
the course it's currently on. So before. Harry or Hermione even had the idea to. go back in time future versions of them. were already looping back influencing. their decisions by doing things like. throwing rocks and howling to distract. Lupin. These types of stories always. have unexplained phenomena early in the. story that are later justified to be. future versions of the characters. looping back through time and creating. that weird thing. With the exception of. Back to the Future, which I have called. a type one kit approach to time travel. logic, this always happened is the most. common form of time travel fiction in. cinema. Like anytime Christopher Nolan. explores time travel from Interstellar.
to Tenet, he takes this approach. Why? Really because it's the most cathartic. from a character perspective. The. characters don't really have free will. when you think about it too hard, but. there is some peace in that because they. can trust that everything will work out. once they figure out their role in fate. and make the choice to fulfill that. destiny. Dumbledore says, Three turns should do it, I think. He winks a little upon saying this. It's. so easy for these types of movies to. fall apart in these moments, but the. dead serious tone, the well-structured. setups, the remaining questions that we.
need fulfilled, and just this entire. movie from various clues and just these. little subliminal hints at time drive us. with momentum into the brink of this. final act. So, Hermione uses the time. turner to rewind herself and Harry back. through the day. If you look closely at. the rewinding visitors of the infirmary, you can see Snape having been the one to. admit Harry and Ron to the infirmary as. well as Madam Pomfrey and others. unwrapping this random student in. bandages and rejoicing at his ability to. walk again, and it's all done reverse. I. just like that we get these like little.
other moments. The daylight shifts, it's. now 7:30, and Cuarón's magic camera. glides through the cogs and pendulum of. the clock tower. We are in the inner. workings of time itself. Now, Harry and. Hermione see the events from before so. that we hear what Malfoy really muttered. to his friends after Hermione had. punched him. Not that it was anyone understood. Okay, got to get that jump out of my blood. Not my words. So, future Harry and Hermione are. crouching behind the stone steps. That felt good. Good. Brilliant. Two things here. From here on, if you. listen closely, you can hear a ticking.
sound in the score. to signal to the the that we are on. borrowed time. Also, the exact timing of. the blocking is perfect. Earlier, when. Ron said, "Not good. Brilliant." his. body was perfectly covering the exact. part of the stone steps where future. Hermione and future Harry were poking. out from behind. And the scene before. cut right before the three of them. turned down to go to Hagrid, when future. Harry and future Hermione emerge from. the steps. I love how Hermione is just. so smart throughout all of this. She. knows that they cannot free Buckbeak too.
soon. They have to wait until Fudge sees. the Hippogriff chained up, or else he'll. blame Hagrid for freeing them. And she. also knows that Harry can't intervene to. kill Peter in his Scabbers form. We. start to get a sense of why Dumbledore. gave the Time Turner to Hermione at the. beginning of the year, so that she could. start to understand this logic. To link. the future to the past, while Ron's. floating camera follows that. weird-shaped stone that Hermione throws. from the pumpkin patch to break the jar. inside. Again, we see that Dumbledore. points his cane in the opposite. direction to keep from Fudge and McNair.
looking over when future Hermione pops. up to throw that rock. He knew the whole. time. You can also hear Dumbledore. stalling Fudge inside the cabin for as. long as possible, including his very, very long name. Dumbledore is as much. playing a part in this mission as. Hermione and Harry are. And the detail. of the crows covering the patch is also. important, because despite Hagrid's. scarecrow being useless, their cause. cover the sounds of Harry and Hermione. whispering. Future Harry and future. Hermione run back into the trees. Is that really what my hair looks like.
from the back? This is a very silly, but very true. teenage detail. Hermione is described in. the book as having wild hair, and sure. enough, in the next film, Hermione will. restyle her hair so that it looks. different from the back. After Harry and. Hermione lead Buckbeak away with the. ferrets from before, and Dumbledore. successfully distracts Fudge with. strawberry hills that don't exist, Dumbledore says, I'd like a nice cup of tea, or a large. brandy. Ah, the brandy that Marge opened this. film with coming back. Harry and. Hermione wait and witness the past.
events. Hermione completes her earlier. loop by making the howl sound that we. heard before. What are you doing? Saving your life. This is actually what inspires Harry to. complete the loop himself to save his. own life. So, they witness the Dementors. smooching Harry and Sirius, and Harry. keeps waiting for the miracle that he. saw before, what he thought was his. father. Don't worry, he will. He will come. You're dying. [music]. Both of you. So, Harry realizes that it wasn't his.
dad, it was himself, and he casts the. Expecto Patronum that rattled the earth. Expecto Patronum! [music]. There is a sad truth here, and I don't. know if Harry realizes it fully, and. this take might actually kind of piss. you off. What we are seeing is Harry. growing into the man that his father. failed to be. James Potter, for all the. goodness he had, was no hero. A hero. does not bully an outcast. A hero does.
not align himself with wormy ass-kissers. like Peter Pettigrew and place the life. of his baby son in those hands. A hero. shows up. I know I'm being pretty hard. on James. It wasn't James's fault that. Voldemort targeted Harry. James was not. a bad father. He loved his son. He was. just an unequipped father. James. ultimately failed to do the one. responsibility of a father, to protect. your son. It was Lily ultimately who did. that. If it wasn't for her sacrifice, Harry would be dead. James's best gift, arguably, was that invisibility cloak.
Like, his family legacy was sneakily. hiding from death, not facing death. head-on. What does that tell you? Obviously, Harry's connection to James. is important. He cast a Patronus of a. stag like his father, but his best. qualities come from having his mother's. eyes, his mother's vision, despite his. father's recklessness. Harry's ability. to cast a fully powered Patronus comes. not from the memory of his parents. talking to him, which might not have. even happened, but from a new memory. made possible only by this incident of. time travel. The confidence that can. only come from Harry finding a loophole.
in the laws that Dumbledore warned. about. His past self actually seeing his. future self in the wizardry his future. self could conjure. Basically, what. Hagrid promised him back on that first. day. You're a wizard, Harry. The happiest thought that Harry could. muster was himself being a better. protector than he received. Part of. becoming an adult is to stop longing for. the past and to realize that they were. what you have grown beyond. And for the. first time, Harry does not need a father. to protect him. It wasn't my dad I saw earlier. It was.
me. I saw myself conjuring the Patronus. before. I knew I could do it this time because. [music]. well, I already done it. So, they free Sirius who escapes on. Buckbeak. Hermione and Harry run back up. to the hospital wing as Alfonso Cuarón's. camera glides back through the clock. machinery and they find Dumbledore. having closed the door. Now, the book. specified that Dumbledore locked that. door. Why did Dumbledore lock it? To. give Harry and Hermione an alibi when. Fudge and Snape later come to accuse. them of helping Sirius escape. They tell. Dumbledore. He's free. We did it.
Did what? Good night. This, I think, is when Michael Gambon. really becomes Dumbledore. It's just. such a perfect delivery. He never stops. moving. He preserves the mystery and. whimsy of the character. Actually, the. song that he hums is La Raspa, the. Mexican Hat Dance, another nod to. Cuarón's heritage. Now, the use of a. Time-Turner, a very dangerous device, is. often accused by critics as being. incredibly dangerous and reckless for. Dumbledore to introduce to the story. And trusting a Time-Turner to a student. just so she could take extra classes?
Time-Turners are such lore breakers that. the author had to mention their. destruction in the Ministry of Magic in. Order of the Phoenix. And Time-Turners. end up being used to such sacrilegious. excess in the Cursed Child play that I. refuse to accept that play as canon. It's a fun show, but a ridiculous story. But, I believe there's enough here to. justify why Dumbledore gave the. Time-Turner to Hermione Granger. His. participation in distracting Fudge tells. us that this day was a day that. Dumbledore had personally used the Time. Turner to retrace his steps through.
countless times, and he finally found a. way to avert that fate. Dumbledore knew. how important it would be for Harry to. break free from his generational baggage. and to find happiness not in the past, but in his own future to cast his full. Patronus. The Patronus Charm will be the. most crucial charm that Harry teaches. Dumbledore's Army in Order of the. Phoenix, and he only unlocks it if. Dumbledore can carefully set up this. delicate arrangement of time travel so. that Harry Potter would be able to loop. back through one day of his life, and. for that trip to be extremely.
disciplined in its execution. And the. only way Dumbledore could guarantee that. is if it would be guided by the nerdiest. rule follower at Hogwarts with a full. academic term of low-stakes experience. with this device. And the third most. important detail for Ron to be nowhere. near it. The messiest idiot of that trio. has to be benched from the trip. If a honest and true is meaningless to. those who have forgotten what it is. He is making sure that injury does not. heal. He has to be benched. And what.
does Dumbledore say when he smacks the. cast? Meaningless to who cannot listen. Ron is the idiot who can never listen. So, the credits of this movie are done. with the names appearing on the. Marauder's Map feet spring away from the. stink bomb store. We see a dog chasing a. bird. We see Sirius, I'm pretty sure, turning into a dog. And then two sets of. footprints positioned suggestively in a. private corner as the outer ones twitch. suggesting some snogging or who knows. what. Percy and Penelope, is this you? Okay, we end revisiting our Room of.
Requirement as we look ahead to the. upcoming HBO series. These are the. changes that this show is required to do. to get the Prisoner of Azkaban right. So, assuming Prisoner of Azkaban will be. the third season of the show, season 3. is going to be the biggest narrative. challenge for the HBO series because for. most viewers it's just going to be. impossible them to top the masterful. adaptation that Cuarón pulled off. He. gave the film series a wholly fresh. visual tone and technical wizardry and. wove it all together with consistent. motifs and themes. It's a true. masterpiece. So, to top it as a season.
of television, I think just use this. season to world build. Like, we should. spend a whole episode just following. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. Next, I really do think the Dementors. could be scarier if they don't fly like. several feet off the ground. If they. want to glide, that's cool, but I think. things are just creepier when they. stalk. Next, this third film only shows. three classes: Defense Against the Dark. Arts, Divination, and Care of Magical. Creatures. I think we can keep the full. course load. It should still feel like a. school show. And for that matter, let's.
see more of the Quidditch season. Like, let's set up Cedric Diggory and how. great of a kid he is. Next, we got to. get Sir Cadogan in there. I want to see. a knight yelling at children to fight. him. And here's a curveball pitch, maybe. this show could surprise viewers by. looping back a third time on the day of. Buckbeak's scheduled execution, adding. an additional layer of time turner. tomfoolery following Dumbledore's. perspective cuz I think there's a whole. additional layer there that we don't. really know about. Okay, next up on our.
rewatch series will be Harry Potter and. the Goblet of Fire. Huge thanks to Gina. Ippolito for helping to research and. write this breakdown. Comment down below. with your thoughts. Follow me at. @eavoss. Subscribe to all three channels. in the New Rockstars Network for. breakdowns and news coverage of. everything you love. See you next week. on the BreakBroom channel for our Q&A. about Prisoner of Azkaban. Thanks for. watching. Mischief managed.
