Teen angst is a major part of everyone’s life, but when it comes to Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe), angst explodes into magical proportions. Such is the premise of this fifth film in the popular series. Indeed, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a film about a young boy’s angst as much as it is about subversives in the face of a prevailing darkness.

Since Chris Columbus left with his shucks-darn style of directing, the Potter series has taken a darker turn, mirroring their literary counterparts. In Azkaban, the third film, Alfonso Cuarón introduced the lightning-fast storytelling that would be seen in following films, a technique that director David Yates has used masterfully. The leading actors have all grown up, and thankfully, the films have matured as well.

Phoenix begins with Harry being taunted by his muggle (non-magical folk) cousin, but the schoolyard bully is chased away by beings that are far more horrifying, dementors. Harry drives them away using magic, and as a result, he ends up on trial and risks expulsion from the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Harry is clearly troubled by the recent murder of his friend Cedric Diggory, especially because Diggory was killed by the notoriously evil and dangerous Lord Voldemort. To make matters even more frustrating, the leaders of the wizarding world have completely ignored Harry’s warnings that the Dark Lord has returned from apparent death fourteen years before.

Even warnings from Hogwarts’ headmaster, Professor Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon), have fallen flat and were even ridiculed in The Daily Prophet, the wizard world’s magical newspaper. It seems that the head of the Ministry of Magic, Cornelius Fudge (Robert Hardy), is convinced that Dumbledore is after Fudge’s job so therefore, anything he says is suspect.

The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is the chillingly delicious Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton), who is a clear supporter of Fudge at any cost. Instead of actually teaching Hogwarts students how to defend themselves against the dark arts (after all, there is no real threat), she limits the students to textbook theories. Harry must somehow convince his classmates that the threat is real, and eventually is compelled to teach them how to defend themselves. Harry doesn’t want any of this, he just wants a normal family.

The political overtones of The Order of the Phoenix are so overt that they’d be hard to miss. Themes of subversion, extreme loyalty, punishment, and outright rebellion are broad slaps to governments on both sides of the pond. Yet Phoenix is able to rise above criticizing modern politics and becomes a timeless warning against maintaining the status quo. The film’s lesson is that abuse of power is costly, no matter its goal or motives.

The prevailing darkness that is evident in The Order of the Phoenix seeps through to the core of the film, making it probably too scary for small children. This is a film for everyone else though, whether or not we’ve read the book on which this film is based. Clearly much had to be excised from J.K. Rowling’s excessively verbose novel, but even avid Potter readers will appreciate how much remains. The world that Rowling created is no longer a matter of “oh, look! It’s a goblin! Look there! It’s a bunch of bricks that form a door! Wow! It’s a talking hat!” Instead, it’s a living, breathing world that Harry must defend using any means necessary.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a complex yarn that is as subtle as it is sharp, and it’s biting as it is soothing. Harry gets his first kiss, but it’s moviegoers that get the real benefit: an escapist film that actually has the audacity to teach while it entertains.

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