2013-04-16 10:05:26 +02:00

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culture
harry-potter
8145704
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# Is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows too scary for young children?
## Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the most adult Potter adventure
yet. Sarah Crompton watches the reactions of her two children, aged 13 and 10.
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TelegraphPlayer-8134090
[Link to this video][9]
By Sarah Crompton 9:24AM GMT 19 Nov 2010
[Comments][10]
Friends have been asking just how dark and disturbing Harry Potter and The
Deathly Hallows really is. They've got children of eight or nine, who are
desperate to see the latest instalment in their favourite saga, but they are
worried that the scenes of torture and death the movie contains may prove too
strong and scary for their little ones.
The certificate of 12A isn't necessarily that much help, since it is the most
wide-reaching of all the certificates, and one which puts the onus fair and
square on parental judgement. The BBFC's excellent online site
[www.bbfc.co.uk][11] contains a thorough and extended explanation of why it
has made this judgement, however. (Let me warn you,, that there are some plot
spoilers in what follows.)
It points out that it has been classed 12A (rather than PG) for "moderate
fantasy violence and threat", explaining that "there are ...some stronger
moments of violence which include some detail, particularly of injuries
sustained by characters, with sight of blood and realistic-looking wounds.
These include the word 'mudblood' shown in bloody scratches on Hermione's
forearm after she has been tortured off-screen."
It goes on to explain that "In terms of moderate threat, the film possesses a
fairly dark and intense tone, in common with many of the more recent
instalments of Harry Potter. Although few sequences are particularly
prolonged, some of them possess a level of intensity that takes them beyond
the 'PG' category, including a sequence very near the start of the film where
Miss Burbage is tormented by Voldemort and the sequence where it is implied
Hermione is being tortured off-screen by Bellatrix. ...Being the first part of
a two-part adventure, there is a notable lack of a reassuring resolution and
certainly no happy ending."
Which just about sums it up. What I can add to that is that watching the film
with a 13-year-old and a 10-year-old, neither was particularly disturbed by
the unpleasant scenes, which really are fleeting and carefully handled. The
whole business of Voldemort is, obviously, pretty scary - and there are a
couple of scenes where his snake Nagini appears which had all of us watching
through our fingers.
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* [Emma Watson on the Deathly Hallows][16]
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* [Rupert Grint on the Deathly Hallows][17]
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But that was in a good way. We expected to be slightly frightened and we were.
Though if your children are the kind who carry their film-going into their
nightmares then you might want to make a different decision.
As far as I am concerned, nothing in any of the Potter films is more
terrifying than the moment in Mike Newell's Harry Potter and the Goblet of
Fire where Voldemort comes back from the dead and we see his ferocious form
for the first time. At that moment, as he kills Cedric Diggory (poor old
Robert Pattinson) and began to fight Harry with all his wicked might, we all
went under our seats.
If your children have survived that, then The Deathly Hallows is a relatively
safe choice for you.
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/harry-potter/8145704/Is-Harry-Potter-and-
the-Deathly-Hallows-too-scary-for-young-children.html
Telegraph
## [Harry Potter][12]
* ### [Culture »][22]
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In culture
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[![Daniel Radcliffe, left, Rupert Grint, center, and Emma Watson in a scene
from 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.': How success cast its spell
on Harry Potter star][29] ][13]
### [Harry Potter DVD box set offer][13]
[![Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 ][30] ][31]
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