Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, Part 1 is both at once the darkest and brightest star in the franchise's constellation of film adaptations. It is darkest in its detailed depiction of Harry's hero saga during his most horrible days, and brightest in story, acting and poignancy.

In this faithful adaptation of the first half of J.K. Rowling's penultimate novel of the boy wizard who lived, an evil shadow has fallen across the United Kingdom as Lord Voldemort grows in power and control. Evil lurks around every corner and there is no time for birthdays, weddings and other happy occasions. This is a time for mourning the fallen, and retreating for cover until a champion rises to lead the good and brave to victory. This is also a time where young love must bloom in a freezing cold winter and deep friendships provide the only warmth and relief.

It is in this bleakness where we see, more clearly than ever, the heart of Harry James Potter and the loyalty of his friends Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley. Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint have never been better in their roles, and there is an epiphany where the audience realizes that its emotional investment in these actors and films has yielded a reward greater than it could possibly have imagined.

This is the true triumph of these Harry Potter films -- that they payoff in some proportion to how their original written source material paid off for readers. Rarely do films ever approach a climax equal to an extraordinary literary experience.

The film production is handsome as it gives the audience the great gift of panoramic vistas of England's windswept moors, rugged forests, and overcast shores that are inserted between suspenseful action sequences in London coffee shops, muggle filled streets and inside the Ministry of Magic.

Having read the books many times, I know how everything will end, but I now know, having seen the first part on film, that when Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, Part 2 runs its last reel this summer, that I will relive all of the giddiness, glory, sadness and sorrow that I felt when I finished the last Harry Potter book.

That is the highest praise I can give any film.