
So while my post is overdue, so is the topic, but it is
none-the-less sincere. I meant to write this in July. So in order to keep my
blog current I am pledging to post at least one blog a month, more if I can,
and since this holiday season is filled with excellent films there is sure to
be a lot to write about. Anyway, let’s fall through the sands of time and
discuss an amazing trilogy.
I know these days it’s almost a cliché to say you are a
Christopher Nolan fan, but… I am a huge Christopher Nolan fan! Very few artists
have inspired film viewers and makers the way he has. I do not elevate people,
because we are all human and no one is without flaw or the inevitable ability
to fail or disappoint, but he has done so little of that in the way of his
artwork that it is something to be admired. His films can be said to have their
own genre. They’re a little bit fantasy, a little bit action, a little thriller,
a little drama and a whole lot of film noir.
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Nolan brought Batman to a whole new level of realism,
mystique, and emotional depth. What could have been (and has been) done in a
cartoony way before has been revolutionized. Now don’t get me wrong, that sort
of fantastical way of super hero storytelling has its place (in stories where heroes
that actually have superpowers) and I personally love those stories, but Batman
has always been a character whose walk was born in tragedy and had to fight on
the darker side of justice and the movie screen.
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In The Dark Knight
Rises when the villainous Bane tosses Bruce Wayne into the pit of despair, (the
prison from which Bane himself escaped from), it would seem hope is entirely
gone. It is said that this prison is inescapable, and when your body and spirit
are broken entirely like Bruce’s, it seems all the more impossible.
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Bruce’s fall into the dark bat cave as a child is symbol for
the place he’s been his whole life. He breaks his arm, but is broken in more
ways than one. Soon after, his parents are tragically killed in front of him.
Bruce did not have much time to be a child but was tossed violently into
adulthood, and oftentimes adulthood is like a dark cave full of vicious bats. A
place where we are broken.
In all three films Bruce struggles with his identity as man
being engulfed with his identity as a symbol and his desire to quench the
thirst for justice in both his city and his heart. In this way, he embraces the
darkness of where he fell, not that he becomes dark or evil, but that he learns
to stand though broken and afraid. I thought this was beautifully shown in the
scene where he comes back to the bat cave as an adult and the bats begin to
swarm. He is afraid, but slowly he rises letting them brush past his body fully
accepting of the dark place he is in and what he must do to conquer it. An
astonishingly powerful scene.
But becoming a knight in the darkness of course comes with a
high price, mainly the compromises he makes in concealing truth and making
emotional decisions. This is portrayed subtly throughout the films in showing
that though Batman wears armor, he still is bruised and beaten by the evil he
faces. This is where the conflict of the two identities arises. He is a purely
powerful symbol, but underneath still a vulnerable man, a child covering his
face from bats in a cave. In The Dark
Knight, he compromises a lot because of his feelings for his childhood
friend, Rachel, and he loses sight of his objective, thus allowing himself to
transform into the man we see at the beginning of Rises: crippled, wrongly accused, living in the shadows, and lost
in sorrow.
This brings us again to Bane’s banishment of Bruce in the prison with a beaten body and hopeless heart. Bane assumes that Bruce will give up and when he does Gotham will easily fall. What Bane cannot anticipate is Bruce’s earnest devotion to run his race to the finish. Even after he has lost everything and nothing left in his hands Bruce truly proves his heroism in his action to finish the job saving the city he promised he would restore. After much pain and healing, Bruce makes several attempts to climb out of the prison, but each of them fail. The prison doctor advises him to make the climb the way the child who escaped did, without rope, without something to catch him when he fell, a full-fledged risk. Risk fuels passion, and passion can make impossible things possible.
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Excellent post on a most excellent series! I love how he was able to thread the theme throughout the three movies, that aspect of overcoming your fears, overcoming darkness, learning from your failures, and rising to newness. That is my favorite part of Dark Knight Rises, the parts of Bruce in the pit and trying to climb out. It is very Christian-esque, as you were pointing out, especially how he had to make the climb "like a child does" without the rope, without the safeguards, but surrender himself.
ReplyDeleteNolan is such an excellent writer/director. He really knows how to use the art of film not only to tell stories, but to tell stories with meaning and deep emotion. Whether I agree with his premises all the time or not, one cannot deny he knows how to weave a tale that captivates his audience!
I still love how he incorporated "Robin" in this film. That little sneak! And I agree with you about him being a better Batman. :)