Prisoner of Azkaban
First, apologies that this is so late in coming; life got a little topsy turvy at the end of 2023; though hopefully it will settle into something manageable now – I have a regular schedule and have left retail behind. So, let’s jump back into our journey with my favorite Harry Potter. I adore the book, the film, even the soundtrack. I also remember a birthday party my best friend threw that was Harry Potter themed, and she had a sweatshirt that looked like Hermione’s. There’s a picture somewhere. I think that party even including going to see the film in IMAX at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh.
Gary Oldman (he finally won an Oscar in 2018 for portraying Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour, but he’s also been James Gordon in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight movies. He was in Tinker Tailor Solider Spy [which I know by name only and all the commercials about it], he was also in Red Riding Hood, the voice of the villain Ruber in Quest for Camelot, starred as Dracula in Bram Stoker’s Dracula [I’ve seen scenes from, courtesy of my college roommate], but I will always first remember him as Ivan Korshunov in Air Force One) is brought in as Sirius Black. David Thewlis (he’s been playing bad guys lately, but we love him as Lupin; he was Grail in Enola Holmes 2, Sir Patrick/Ares in Wonder Woman, though he was in Kingdom of Heaven) as Remus Lupin.
Emma Thompson (P.L. Travers [the author of Mary Poppins, in Saving Mr. Banks, the voice of Elinor, the mother in Brave, and she voiced Captain Amelia in Treasure Planet; she met back up with Emma Watson in the live action Beauty and the Beast as Mrs. Potts. She’s the titular Nanny McPhee, and starred opposite Alan Rickman in Sense and Sensibility,and I find this hilarious; she’s Trunchbull in the film on Matilda the Musical…considering she was in this film with the one who was Trunchbull in the film) as Sybil Trelawney, and Michael Gambon (he is often mistaken for Ian McKellan [there was a running gag between the two, which I’ll get into when we go behind the scenes in Hobbit and Lord of the Rings], though he has also appeared in The Hollow Crown, a few episodes of Doctor Who, The King’s Speech, and Amazing Grace, and sadly passed away last September) takes over as Albus Dumbledore.
We’ve seen Timothy Spall in Sweeney Todd (Alan Rickman is also in the film; which I’ve watched once and don’t intend to watch again), Nathaniel in Enchanted, and Simon in Last Samurai (we blame this on my high school boyfriend); here, he’s Peter Pettigrew. Pam Ferris (she was in the Tolkien movie [which we will cover], and I will always remember as Trunchbull in the 1996 Matilda film with Danny DeVito and Mara Wilson) makes an appearance as Aunt Marge and Julie Christie is Madame Rosmerta. There is also a new director, and this was the last Harry Potter film that John Willams composed [who just won his 26th Grammy for Best Score for the latest Indiana Jones film at the age of 92].
We start back in Privet Drive for summer holidays, which Harry is not enjoying. He has to do his homework at night because Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon tried to lock his school supplies away, but Harry snuck some out and keeps them hidden in his bedroom. Ron attempted a phone call, but that did not end well. Harry does manage to hear about an escaped prisoner, Sirius Black, but doesn’t think much about it. Vernon’s sister, Marge comes for a visit and she delights in hearing how Harry attends St. Brutus school for criminal boys. Harry has to stay on his best behavior so Vernon will sign his permission slip to visit Hogsmeade village. But she goes too far in insulting Harry’s parents and in his anger, Harry manages to blow Aunt Marge up like a balloon. He grabs his stuff and makes a run for it, “anywhere is better than here.” He does spot a dark dog in the shadows while he escapes, but is almost flattened by a purple triple-decker bus; the Knight Bus, which rescues stranded witches and wizards. Harry has it take him to the Leaky Cauldron in London. In the film, it’s a harrowing ride, zooming between traffic with a fast-paced soundtrack. Onboard, Harry catches a glimpse of Sirus Black in the Daily Prophet and finds out he’s wanted in the wizarding world for being a supporter of Voldemort and murdering thirteen people with a single curse and is the only prisoner to have successfully escaped Azkaban prison.
Harry meets Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge at the Leaky Cauldron, who is just glad that Harry has arrived safely and waves away the matter with using magic on his aunt. “We have a killer on the loose.” Harry gets to explore Diagon Alley in the meantime and eventually meets up with the Weasleys and Hermione. Scabbers, Ron’s pet rat, is looking off, and Ron is not pleased when Hermione buys a cat, Crookshanks. Harry overhears Arthur and Molly Weasley talking about Sirius Black being after Harry. He later convinces Mr. Weasley that he won’t go looking after Black; “why would I go looking for someone who wants to kill me?”
The kids return to Hogwarts and there is a man sleeping in the compartment our trio sits in, Professor R.J. Lupin according to his luggage. They figure he is the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. The train makes an unplanned stop, becoming freezing cold as the Azkaban guards, dementors, enter, searching for Black [they do look a bit like the Nazgul from Lord of the Rings]. Harry hears screaming and passes out; the dementors are chased away by Lupin, who then feeds Harry chocolate to combat the after effects. Harry notes that Snape seems to loathe Lupin upon sight, but the trio are happy for the new teacher and that Hagrid is the new Care of Magical Creatures professor; which also explains the Monster Book of Monsters that tries to bite your hand when you open it. Harry feels home at last in his dormitory. The track Double Trouble from the soundtrack, performed by a student choir, has lyrics based on the witches from Shakespeare’s MacBeth: “Double, double, toil and trouble/fire burn and cauldron bubble” etc. (which is why I wanted to read that section when we read it in AP English senior year of high school).
I think Michael Gambon gives an excellent start-of-year speech, balancing sternness one expects from a headmaster, and the quirkiness who know the character to has, ending with “you know, happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if only remembers, to turn on the light.”
The friends start their new classes, though Ron and Harry wonder how Hermione is attending all of hers. In addition to Care of Magical Creatures, they’ve signed up for Divination, where Professor Trelawney is quick to determine that Harry’s teacup shows the Grim, a large black dog, an omen of death. Hermione is not keen on the subject. In the book, McGonagall is quick to inform her third years students “Sybill Trelawney has predicted the death of one student a year since she arrived at this school. None of them has died yet. Seeing death omens is her favorite way of greetings a new class (pg. 109).” But they’re soon distracted by meeting hippogriffs in their first class with Hagrid. Hagrid has Harry ride Buckbeak to show the other kids he’s not dangerous (accompanied by a brilliant Willams’ soundtrack). Draco, trying to prove his bravery, insults the hippogriff and gets scratched, which puts a damper on everything.
Defense Against the Dark Arts becomes an exciting class. Lupin shows them how to defeat boggarts, which shows people their greatest fear. But they are defeated by laughter and the spell Riddikulus; one must imagine how to turn their fear into something funny. Lupin’s first student is Neville, who fears Professor Snape [we’ll get into why this is a mark against Snape down the road]. He imagines Snape in his grandmother’s clothing, and it is rather funny (and kudos to Alan Rickman for wearing that). Lupin prevents Harry from facing the boggart. Later, Harry asks him why (and I love this scene in the film; set on a bridge and accompanied by a bittersweet theme). Lupin admits he figured that Voldemort would appear. Harry first thought of Voldemort, but then remembered the dementors. Lupin commends Harry; what Harry fears the most is fear; it’s very wise. Harry admits he heard screaming and has figured out it was his mother screaming, the night she was killed. Lupin explains that dementors force a person to relive their very worst memories; “our pain becomes their power.” And Lupin knew Harry’s mother; she was a gifted witch, but also an uncommonly kind woman. She could see the beauty in others, particularly when they couldn’t see it themselves. Lupin also knew James and comments he had a talent for trouble, which rumor has it, Harry has inherited. “You’re more like them than you know, Harry.”
The film uses the Whomping Willow to track the seasons, which is a beautiful imagery. Halloween evening, the portrait of the Fat Lady is attacked by Sirius Black. Dumbledore has the castle searched and the students sleep in the Great Hall. When Snape expresses concern to the headmaster that Black may have inside help, Dumbledore responds “I do not believe a single person inside this castle would have helped Black enter it (pg. 166).” Harry also overhears Snape ask Dumbledore if Harry should be warned. The headmaster responds “perhaps, but for now, let him sleep. For in dreams, we enter a world that is entirely our own. Let them swim in the deepest ocean, or glide over the highest cloud.” (Again, wonderfully written and wonderfully spoken.) Sir Cadogan is the temporary portrait and delights in changing the password constantly.
One day, Snape has to fill in for Lupin in Defense Against the Dark Arts, which is a position he covets. He elects to teach the class about werewolves, which they’re not supposed to be studying yet. “Turn to page 394,” he directs (who knew that line would become iconic?) Hermione attempts to answer Snape’s questions, but he ignores her and when she persists, he rounds on her, “are you incapable of restraining yourself or do you take pride in being an insufferable know-it-all?” [let’s point out this is another point against Snape as a good guy]
In Quidditch, the Gryffindor team is determined to win the Cup this year. They play against Hufflepuff and their seeker, Cedric Diggory, in a torrential downpour. However, when Harry is about to get the Snitch, a chill comes over him and he hears his mother’s screams. He falls off his broom, slowed only by Dumbledore. They lose the match and Harry’s broom had flown into the Whomping Willow, and is now in pieces. Afterwards, Harry goes to Lupin for help; Lupin was able to make the dementors on the train leave and he wants to learn. Lupin accepts, and stresses that Harry is not weak. He has true horrors in his past. But lessons will have to wait until he is feeling better.
Fred and George Weasley decide to help Harry get into Hogsmeade undetected, and pass along the Marauder’s Map, created by Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. It can be opened with the phrase “I solemnly swear I am up to no good” [just about the most iconic phrase of the entire series] and closed with “Mischief Managed.” It shows where everyone is within Hogwarts, every minute of every day. Allowing Harry to sneak around. Harry’s able to visit the Three Broomsticks and order butterbeer, and Honeydukes, the sweet shop, and take a look at the Shrieking Shack, which is supposed to be the most haunted spot in Britain.
While sitting with Ron and Hermione in the Three Broomsticks, they see Minister Fudge enter with Hagrid and McGonagall. They hear the phrase “Sirius Black,” and Harry sneaks up to overhear their conversation. He discovers that Sirius was best friends with his father, James, and to this day, remains Harry’s godfather. The story is that Sirius was serving Voldemort and led him right to the Potters the night they were killed. McGonagall remarks in the film, “Sirius Black may not have put his hands to the Potters, but he’s the reason they’re dead.” Harry is upset and Ron and Hermione rush after him. “He was their friend, and he betrayed them….I hope he finds me, because when he does, I’m going to be ready. When he does, I’m going to kill him!”
In the book, Harry receives the new Firebolt broomstick for Christmas. He’s thrilled, but Hermione reports it to McGonagall because she believes that it was sent by Sirius Black. The broomstick is confiscated and Ron is furious with Hermione. He’s already mad at her because Crookshanks keeps trying to get to Scabbers. Later, when Scabbers goes missing and there’s blood on Ron’s sheets, he yells at Hermione. “It looked like the end of Ron and Hermione’s friendship. Each was so angry with the other that Harry couldn’t see how they’d ever make up (pg. 252).” Part of this is dropped in the film.
Harry starts attending lessons with Lupin to learn the Patronus charm to repel dementors. It creates a Patronus, which acts as a barrier. But it’s conjured by thinking of a happy memory. Harry has few of those. He tries thinking of the first time he rode a broom, but it wasn’t strong enough. They use a boggart for practice. Now Harry has started to hear his father’s voice as well when the dementors come near. In the film, he succeeds by recalling a distant memory of his parents talking. And for some reason, I love the imagery of him playing with the flame of the candle.
The next Quidditch match is against Ravenclaw; their seeker is Cho Chang, whom Harry couldn’t help but notice is pretty. Wood shouts at him “this is no time to be a gentleman! Knock her off her broom if you have to (pg. 291)!” Three dementors come on to the field and Harry executes a corporeal Patronus and chase them off. Except, they weren’t real dementors, they were Draco Malfoy and some of his cronies. McGonagall enjoys setting a punishment on the Slytherins. This part is left out of the film. Also left out is an attack on Ron in the Gryffindor dormitory by Sirius Black. He had a list of the passwords, which had been lost by Neville.
The movie and book differ a little on one incident. Harry does play a prank on Malfoy while in Hogsmeade, under the Invisibility Cloak. In the book, the cloak slips and Draco sees Harry, then reports it to Snape. When Snape demands Harry turn out his pockets, he finds the Marauder’s Map. He demands it reveals it’s secrets. Its answer is to insult Snape and tells him “to keep his abnormally large nose out of other people’s business.” In the film, Harry is looking at the map at night and notices someone walking around by the name of Peter Pettigrew, another of James and Sirius’ friends, whom Sirius supposedly killed. So how can he be on the map? Harry goes to investigate and comes across Snape. Both the book and film do include the line “my dad didn’t strut, and neither do I,” as Harry’s comeback to Snape. Lupin happens upon them and the map and confiscates it. To Harry, Lupin admits he knows it’s a map and is astounded that Harry didn’t turn it in. In the wrong hands, it’s a map to Harry. It’s a poor way to repay his parents’ sacrifice. Lupin won’t cover for Harry again. As he leaves, Harry points out that the Map may be wrong, because he saw someone’s name on it that he knows to be dead; Peter Pettrigrew.
At the same time, Hagrid is preparing for a trial about Buckbeak for attacking Draco. Hermione has been helping, and Harry eventually takes over because she’s getting stressed by all the coursework (they still haven’t figured out how she’s making it to all her classes). She has dropped Divination, after getting into a disagreement with Trelawney. Ron finally apologizes to Hermione, who accepts. But the trial does not go well (helped to that end by Lucius Malfoy) and Buckbeak is sentenced to death.
The final Quidditch match of the season is between Slytherin and Gryffindor and the student body is in on the rivalry. In the book, Lee Jordan gets in some good quips about the teams, remarking that Slytherin goes for size, rather than skill, and Gryffindor’s team is one of the best Hogwarts has seen in many years. Penalties go against both teams; it’s a dirty match, but Harry prevails against Malfoy and Gryffindor wins. Then the students begin studying for their tests. Fifth years take OWLS (Ordinary Wizarding Levels) and seventh years have to pass their NEWTS (Nearly Exhausting Wizarding Tests). During Harry’s final with Divination end with Trelawney going into a weird state and declaring that the “servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master. The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant’s aid, greater and more terrible than ever before (pg. 324).”
The trio head down to comfort Hagrid over the pending execution of Buckbeak. On the way, they run into Malfoy and Hermione does the best thing in the entire movie, and punches the “foul, loathsome evil little cockroach” in the face. We agree with Ron when he remarks after Hermione says “that felt good,” “not good, bloody brilliant.” They also manage to find Scabbers, but then have to hide from Dumbledore, Fudge, and the executioner. Scabbers makes a run for it and they encounter a large, black dog. Ron’s leg is injured in the process and the dog drags him under the Whomping Willow. Hermione and Harry follow. At the other end, they wind up in the Shrieking Shack and face Sirius Black. The dog is an Animagus – Black. Harry attempts to attack Black, for betraying his parents. Black doesn’t help his case, when he declares “there’ll be only one murder here tonight.” Harry confronts him; “you killed my parents.” “I don’t deny it. But if you knew the whole story (pg. 342).”
Lupin enters the Shack, then embraces Black like a brother, quipping back and forth. Hermione shouts that Lupin is a werewolf, he’s been helping Black. She’s known since Professor Snape set the essay. Lupin admits he is a werewolf and he knows how to use the Marauder’s Map because he’s one of the ones who wrote it: Moony. James was Prongs, Sirius Padfoot, and Petter Pettigrew was Wormtail. James, Sirius, and Peter became Animagus while in school to be with Remus during the full moon. The Shrieking Shack and Whomping Willow were put in place for Remus to hide while he was as werewolf during school. Lupin declares that Scabbers is actually an Animagus and is Peter Pettigrew. He insists to Sirius that they have to explain and owe Harry the truth. “I did my waiting…twelve years of it…in Azkaban!” Sirius shouts (Gary Oldman is excellent in this scene; fans have declared that Sirius was the dramatic one of the group, but we love him for it)
And then Snape enters. But he won’t listen to anything Remus or Sirius have to say. Snape and Black snipe back and forth at each other, not ones to let go of their school-born animosity; “brilliant Snape, once again you put your keen and penetrating mind to the task and as usual, come to the wrong conclusion.” Harry stands in front of him. All three students shout Expelliarmus and knock out Snape (in the film, it’s just Harry). Sirius finally gets the chance to explain that he saw a picture of Scabbers on Ron’s shoulder from an article in the Daily Prophet the previous summer from their trip to Egypt. And it had mentioned that the boys were attending Hogwarts, where Harry is. So Sirius escaped as a dog and set out to hunt Peter down. He admits to Harry he as good as killed his parents, because it was Sirius’s idea to switch to Peter as the Secret Keeper at the last minute. It was Peter who betrayed the Potters. The night they died, after Sirius saw, he went after Peter and confronted him. Peter blew the street up as a distraction and changed back into a rat, cutting off a finger to prove his death; that’s why Scabbers is missing a toe. Remus and Sirius force Peter to transform back into a man, and he cries and corroborates their story, but begs for his life. Harry stops Sirius and Remus from killing him, because he figures James wouldn’t want his two best friends to become killers. But the dementors can have Peter. Peter proves to be the embodiments of sniveling coward, only interested in saving himself. Sirius declares that any of the other friends would have died standing against Voldemort, protecting their friends.
That will free Sirius. Sirius approaches Harry as they exit the Whomping Willow; as Harry’s godfather, would Harry want to live with him? Harry eagerly accepts, and the tide turns when everyone realizes it’s a full moon. Remus transforms and Sirius heads the wolf off as Padfoot. Peter also manages to transform and scampers off. Snape exits the Willow and first starts to yell at Harry, but turns and shields the trio from the werewolf [ok, to be fair, a point towards the he’s a decent guy column]. He’s pushed aside and Padfoot jumps back in. Harry runs after Sirius and encounter dementors. His thought of living with his godfather works for a minute; for half an hour, he believed he would live with his parents’ best friend and that would have been the next best thing to having his own father back. But Harry collapses; the dementors are close to sucking out Sirius’s soul. Someone else comes to their rescue.
He wakes to find that Snape has recovered and it’s his word against the teenagers and any minute, the dementors will perform their kiss and suck out Sirius’s soul. Dumbledore tasks Hermione and Harry with saving two innocent lives and suggests three turns to Hermione. She has a Time Turner, which is how she attends her lesson, by turning it back in time. So she and Harry go back three hours, meaning they can free Buckbeak. They watch her punch Draco and Harry comments, “good punch.” Then Hermione figures out how to get the trio out of Hagrid’s hut. Things are tense in the forest when Lupin transforms into a werewolf and comes after Harry and Hermione; Hermione had to make a wolf call to distract him from killing the other Harry, then Buckbeak swoops in to save them. Harry also wants to see who rescued him from the dementors, thinking maybe it was his dad. Actually, it was Harry, but his Patronus takes the form of a stag; Prongs, his father’s Animagus form. Then it’s time to fly up to Sirius and rescue him. Sirius bids the children goodbye; Harry wants to go with his godfather, but Sirius tells Harry he’s meant to be at Hogwarts. Besides, his life will be too unpredictable for now. “It’s cruel, that I got to spend so much time with James and Lily, and you so little. But know this, the ones who love us never really leave us.” He climbs up on Buckbeak and flies away. The two teens then race back to the hospital wing, confusing Ron.
Snape is furious. In retaliation, he tells his students that Lupin is a werewolf, which means Lupin has to leave Hogwarts again. Parents wouldn’t approve of a werewolf teaching their children. Remus returns the Map to Harry, who is disappointed because their actions didn’t make a difference. Remus points out that Harry helped uncover the truth of his parents’ betrayal, he saved an innocent man from a terrible fate. Harry does reveal Trewlaney’s prediction to Dumbledore, who points out that Voldemort will now have a servant who is in Harry’s debt.
The school year ends and the trio return to their homes for the summer. Hermione has dropped Muggle Studies, meaning she’ll have a normal year next year. On the train ride home, Harry receives a letter from Sirius. The tiny owl becomes Ron’s new pet, since he no longer has Scabbers. Sirius admits he was the dog Harry glimpsed when he ran away; Sirius wanted to check in on him before he went north. And it was Sirius who sent the Firebolt, consider it thirteen birthday presents from his godfather, and he also includes his signed permission for Harry to visit Hogsmeade.
The credits roll over the Marauder’s Map and if you’re watching closely, you can see pawprints shift into footprints at one point. And again, the soundtrack is marvelous, blending all the themes from the film. Again, this is my favorite book and film of the series. I think the acting was superb in this film; yes we poke fun at Gambon in the next film, but this film showed him as a worthy successor to Richard Harris. I like that there are no spiders or snakes in this film. This is a personal story for Harry. Yes, Voldemort is mentioned and he remains a threat, but he doesn’t actively show up (only time in the series). We’re introduced to friends of Harry’s parents…we want more Marauders stories! (Which is what fanfiction is for). People who can connect Harry to these figures whom he desperately misses. Sirius Black is one of my favorite characters and Gary Oldman plays him to perfection. We wish alongside Harry for Sirius to take him away from the Durselys. Each book reinforces that these people don’t want him, mistreat him; his only home is Hogwarts. And here comes his father’s best friend; the man his parents chose to look after him, and if he’s freed, Harry is free, and we mourn alongside Harry when that’s not allowed to happen. This also was one of the best twists I recall reading; Rowling having us think that Sirius Black is the mass murderer and then he turns out to be innocent and someone else is responsible, who was hiding all along. And fans wish that Sirius was a little less impulsive that night and could have raised Harry. And we’ll throw Remus in there as well.
Up Next: Goblet of Fire
Dreamer in the Mirror 