The Dark Knight

 SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

Before analyzing the next film, I’m following up one Christopher Nolan film, The Prestige, with a brief discussion of the characters in another movie of his, The Dark Knight (2008). This post springs from a viewing and class focusing on the second story in the Nolan trilogy recently held at the Bryn Marw Film Institute.

The punning title reminds us that Batman is, like the animal he has adopted as his persona, a creature of the night, but a person who wants to champion good over evil. However, as the Joker asks, is he also the catalyst that brings about dangerous side-effects? Vigilantes mimic him and are harmed, and one is killed. Batman (Christian Bale) bypasses the justice system by doing unlawful acts, as he unlawfully kidnaps the Asian banker, Lau (Chin Han), and beats up Joker in custody (even if we applaud it. What does that say about us?). He taps into everybody’s cell phone in Gotham to find out Joker’s location. He tampers with crime scenes, not sharing his technology with the police to analyze evidence. Do the ends always justify the means?

Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) was called Two-Face because he worked for internal affairs at one point, investigating criminality in the police department. So, cops considered him to be a policeman but also a traitor. Bruce Wayne, Batman’s legitimate front man (is he really the disguise and Batman the true version of Wayne?) sees Harvey as a way to get out of the vigilante business. Harvey appears through most of the story as a white knight, a hero not needing a mask, whose goodness is uncompromised, who fights crime through legal channels, and has won over Rachel (Maggie Gyllenhaal), Bruce’s love. In a way, Harvey is Bruce’s legitimate surrogate, who Bruce wishes he could be, who deserves to get the girl. Bruce hopes that if he no longer must be Batman, then he can go legit, and win back Rachel. But Joker will have none of that. He wants to keep Batman in the game to expose his true identity behind the mask. Symbolically it also means revealing Batman’s darker tendencies can’t be separated from the supposedly legitimate person wearing the costume. When Harvey literally becomes two-faced after the explosion, it reveals how the dark side of his personality can take over as it can for anyone who sees the world’s rules as unjust. In his own way Harvey becomes a vigilante to avenge the corruption that led to the murder of Rachel. As our instructor pointed out, Batman and Joker wage their war over Harvey’s soul. Joker wants to show that everyone’s nature, once stripped away from the socially acceptable façade, is destructive. In the end, Joker wins when it comes to Harvey.

The most interesting character is, of course, Joker, played perfectly by the late Heath Ledger in a supporting Oscar-winning performance. Joker tells the defaced Harvey that he is a true outlaw. He is not a schemer, a planner, like the other leaders of society. He is chaos, which he sees as the natural state of humankind.  As Alfred (Michael Caine) says to Bruce, there are some people “who just want to see the world burn.” Joker crafts situations where people must act on their selfish, anti-social drives. For example, after he infiltrates a criminal’s organization (that criminals should organize is a joke to the Joker), he breaks a pool stick so that two of the crooks must use the splintered weapon to fight to the death to survive and join his gang. Of course, as is shown by the opening scene, survival is not guaranteed if one joins the Joker, whose associates are mostly anti-social misfits. He shows Batman that he can’t save Rachel, that his heroic efforts will not triumph.

Writer/director Nolan gives us several images that show how Joker subverts what we consider is worthwhile about society. Joker uses school buses to transport his band of criminals, which contrasts the innocence of children with the depravity of criminals. Joker and his band of outlaws dress up as policemen and use police cars, showing that those who we think can protect us can’t. Indeed, he kidnaps Rachel and Harvey with the help of corrupt cops. To divert the police caravan to the underground road, he sets on fire a fire engine to block the planned (that word again) passage. The vehicle that is meant to protect us from flames is negated by being consumed by them. (Observe how the police escort goes underground, the place where, for the Joker, we all genuinely belong, in the selfish id of our personalities). Joker masquerades as a nurse at the hospital where Harvey is a patient. Nurses are supposed to care for others, but Joker does not even leave angels of mercy unsoiled. He blows up the hospital, showing how pointless it is to seek sanctuary anywhere. Even Joker’s makeup in this film is nightmarish. He looks like a demon from hell, not the happy clown that is meant to make children laugh. When Batman captures Joker at the end, the criminal hangs upside down, showing how he is in opposition to society, But the camera rotates the shot, and he becomes right-side up. The suggestion is that, like in Stranger Things, the upside-down, the darker side of reality, can become the norm.

There is hope toward the end of the film. As one student insightfully pointed out, those individuals on the ferries do not give into selfishness and refuse to destroy passengers on the other boat to save themselves. Even the transported criminals on one craft do the right thing, indicating that redemption is possible. These are unsung heroes, who have no names, do not have fancy technology, or Ninja skills. Yet, they upstage the high-profile crimefighters, Batman, the police commissioner, and the mayor.

However, the darkened character of Harvey Dent threatens any hope of saving Gotham. Batman and Gordon (Gary Oldman) decide that Harvey’s character must remain untarnished, and that Batman must shoulder the sins of others, Christ-like, to save the soul of the city. In other words, they determine that, ironically, salvation should rely on a lie.

The next film is Europa, Europa.