A Little Sorcery

 

A Little Sorcery

Noel Laflin

11-16-22

The first Harry Potter movie opened in theaters on this day twenty-one years ago.

I remember buying the book a couple of years before its release and reading it aloud to the six-year old kiddo snuggled in my lap. She eventually fell asleep but I continued on, reading silently now, as the story seemed pretty good. Eventually, the entire family would go on to read every installment, and catch every theatrical release.

It’s hard to beat magic.

But that first film remains the most significant. I watched it most recently while on a plane somewhere over Newfoundland and the North Atlantic. I needed a distraction as the movie I had viewed just prior to this was a bit depressing. The film was good, but sad.  So, I scanned the lists available and settled for a version of cinematic comfort food, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. It got me to thinking that maybe part of the Harry Potter phenomenon (the film anyway) was the timing of its release, as the country and its people were still reeling from the after effects of 9/11. It was such a sad, depressing, messed up time, that escaping to Hogwarts for a couple of hours seemed like a fine diversion.

Years ago I came across the 1941 movie classic, Sullivan’s  Travels, a story about a film director who wants to make a serious movie, but because of crazy personal circumstances affecting his life, and nearly killing him, ends up making comedies instead. It opened in theaters just weeks after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  The New York Times described it as "the most brilliant picture yet this year", praising Sturges's (both writer and director) mix of escapist fun with underlying significance, and ranked it as one of the ten best films of 1941.

It’s safe to say that Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone would have been a hit regardless of timing.

But it sure came at a good time, nonetheless, even two decades later while flying over Newfoundland.