Director: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal
Production company: Warner Bros. Pictures
Rating: PG-13 for fantasy violence and frightening situations
By Gregg Tubbs
UMC.org—Joseph Conrad wrote about “The Heart of Darkness,” but writer/director Christopher Nolan and his talented cast take us deep into the darkness of the heart with The Dark Knight, the bleak but dazzling sequel to their own 2005 Batman Begins. The Dark Knight crackles with malevolent energy as it peels back the layers of heroes and villains, myth and reality to reveal the queasy grey areas where morality and expediency blur and good and evil are literally two sides of the same coin. A sense of tragedy also infuses the film, both on screen and off, with the untimely loss of Heath Ledger, the young star whose haunting and terrifying Joker hints at the greatness that could have been.
Many superhero film series lose steam after the first film. After covering the origin story, filmmakers often do not know what else to do. But this installment of the Batman series picks up steam as though Nolan and crew have been freed by having dealt with Batman's beginnings. They plunge us headlong into a complex and realistic storyline, which plays much more like a top-notch crime film (Michael Mann’s Heat comes to mind) than the usual far-fetched superhero fare.
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A sense of tragedy also infuses the film, both on screen and off, with the untimely loss of Heath Ledger, the young star whose haunting and terrifying Joker hints at the greatness that could have been. Copyright © 2008 Warner Bros. Pictures.
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Batman (Christian Bale), a vigilante both lauded and reviled, has done much to clean up Gotham City. Yet its citizens are restless, growing weary of his sometimes-destructive methods and suspicious of any hero who hides behind a mask. If Batman is indeed a dark knight, they long for a white knight—a man like Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), Gotham’s handsome and fearless district attorney, who battles crime in the daylight rather than dark alleys. But neither crime fighter has seen anything like the Joker. As played by Ledger, he is a nihilist, a soulless anarchist. More reptilian than human, the Joker’s tongue darts in and out of his mouth, impulsively exploring the inner crevices of his horrible facial scars, which are garishly enhanced by grease paint. Neither the leering smile carved into his face nor his motivations are ever explained.
If God, in creating the universe, literally gave order to chaos, then the Joker is a kind of anti-god—a self-described agent of chaos who, as Alfred (Michael Caine) puts it, “just wants to see the world burn.” Not driven by greed or revenge, he represents a different kind of evil than the typical thugs and mobsters of Gotham. As he begins to spread senseless anarchy (yes, the word terrorist is used), the film becomes a study of how evil touches and taints even good people, particularly Batman, Dent and police lieutenant Gordon (Gary Oldman).
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The Dark Knight becomes a study of how evil touches and taints even good people, particularly Batman (Christian Bale), Dent (Aaron Eckhart) and police lieutenant Gordon (Gary Oldman). Copyright © 2008 Warner Bros. Pictures.
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The Joker, who insists all rules are irrelevant, sets out to test their moral mettle, forcing these protectors of Gotham to make hard choices about whose lives will be saved and which ethical barriers will be crossed in order to stop him. While the film is filled with unexpected plot twists and heart-stopping action, ultimately the moral battleground provides the most thrilling action. As Batman, Dent and Gordon confront senseless evil and agonizing moral choices, one will hold fast to his ethics, one will bend them and one will cave and cross over to the dark side. “If you don’t die a hero, you’ll live long enough to become a villain.” Repeated several times throughout the film, this line becomes sadly prophetic. And in an ending that’s almost operatic in its tragedy, one will take on the guilt of another in a selfless act that is almost Christ-like.
This moral dilemma raises a host of complex questions about good and evil, justice and violence. Is there such a thing as pure evil? Who has the right to choose who lives and who dies? Should certain basic rights, like privacy, be suspended to save countless lives? Where is the line between vigilante and villain? Did Batman’s very presence essentially create his opposite, the Joker, and are they really opposites or just two sides of the same coin?
The Dark Knight is a wonderful film, but far from perfect. It follows one story arc too long and is at times almost relentlessly grim. But as the Joke conducts his little “social experiments” by subjecting people to fear and moral quandary, we see unexpected glimpses of courage, compassion and nobility. Such flashes of light offer encouragement that there may indeed be a light at the end of Gotham’s dark tunnel—a tunnel thankfully patrolled by a dark knight.
Study Questions
- Batman is portrayed as a vigilante, beyond the rule of law and without jurisdictional boundaries. How do you feel about that? To stop crime, do we need vigilantes like Batman? Or are law enforcement constraints necessary?
- Bruce tells Rachel there will be a time when Gotham no longer needs a Batman. What does he mean? Who will take over?
- Does the Joker represent pure evil or does everyone have some good in them? What does the film say about the good and evil in all of us?
- What do you make of the fact that the Joker never tells the same story about his scars? How does this fit his anarchic agenda?
- When the Joker killed the Wayne Enterprises employee or blew up a hospital, were you surprised that citizens tried to kill him? Do you believe that all people abandon their morals when threatened as the Joker tries to prove? Can people be held accountable for what they do under truly desperate circumstances?
- Where you surprised by the actions of the people on the ferry boats? Who surprised you the most: the convict or the businessman? What would you do in such a situation?
- Batman is portrayed as a dark knight and Dent as a white knight. Is this accurate? How pure was Dent? Which knight do you think you would be?
- Can Batman really be an agent of good while performing essentially sinful acts? Can such actions be justified?
- What did Alfred mean when he said that Batman was “more than a hero”? Is Batman a hero or something else?
- Gordon says Batman is “the hero Gotham needs, not the hero it deserves.” What did he mean? Is God’s grace what we need rather than what we deserve? How so?
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