Movie Review

Directed by Christopher Nolan; starring Christian Bale (Bruce Wayne), Heath Ledger (The Joker) 2 hrs, 33 mins, 2008. Batman flic transcends the comic book superhero genre to become a politically charged meditation on the problem of evil and sends us away mulling over spiritual questions.

This Batman flic is the second highest grossing film of all time in the US. It transcends the comic book superhero genre to become a politically charged meditation on the problem of evil and sends us away mulling over spiritual questions. It speaks loudly to troubled times perhaps more so, in times more troubled than when the movie first came out.

The story picks up several months after the conclusion of Batman Begins in which we learned that the wealthy Bruce Wayne had witnessed the murder of his parents by street thugs and we witnessed his transformation into the caped crusader, aided by his faithful retainer, Pennyworth and wily company manager, Lucius Fox. Gotham City's crusading DA, Harvey Dent has been reasonably successful against the Falcone crime family that has decided to try laundering its money offshore through a crooked Chinese mogul (Lau). Because this action threatens Dent's case against the mob he approaches Batman, in some desperation, to engineer an illegal "extraordinary rendition" of Lau and bring him back to Gotham from Hong Kong to testify for the prosecution. Crime Boss, Maroni, has no choice but to turn to The Joker who, to that point, has made a nice living stealing from The Mob (The enemy of my enemy is my friend).

Chaos ensues when The Joker unleashes an insane and horrific brand of terrorism that seems to require further ethical breaches in order to combat it. Will Batman be able to retain any moral integrity in this struggle with an evil villain who has no more agenda than to plunge Gotham into complete terror and anarchy? Already, "white knight" DA Dent has been changed by the Joker’s madness into a vengeful murderer. In a horrific accident he is literally turned into “Two Face”; one side scarred, the other handsome as ever.

"Theodicy" is a term that refers to explanation or vindication of divine justice with particular reference to the problem of evil. Any time we pose the question "How could a just/ loving God let...happen?" we are engaging in theodicy. The Joker articulates one way of understanding this issue called "contrast theodicy." In a police interrogation Batman asks The Joker, "Why do you want to kill me?" The Joker cackles back, "I don't want to kill you! What would I do without you? You complete me." In their final confrontation Batman opts not to kill The Joker and the demented Clown Prince of Crime coos eerily, "I think you and I are destined to do this forever." This is not merely a line leading into a movie sequel.

Harvey "Two Face" (the DA) takes a more conventional Augustinian view of things: that evil is a pervasive absence of good that has allowed both Batman and The Joker to come into being. He focuses his rage on those whose apathy and corruption have compounded Gotham's problems. He says to Batman, "You thought we could be decent people in indecent times but you were wrong. The world is cruel and the only morality in a cruel world is chance-unbiased, unprejudiced, fair."

The perspective of the movie itself, through the director, is more Buddhist; evil deeds do not occur de novo but are largely the result of various causes and conditions; that is, the Joker's abuse as a child, the murder of Bruce Wayne's parents, the greed of The Mob, the bribery of police who need money for the care of sick relatives, Gotham’s economic depression, Batman’s own rule breaking vigilantism, and so forth.

The language of "evil" has had a very prominent role in public discourse in the last few years. "Evil doers" and "axis if evil" has helped divide up the world into manageable teams — US vs THEM. The Dark Knight is a very sophisticated post 9/11 allegory, ostensibly with comic book archetypes but operating in a plausibly real world that invites us to ponder our notions of evil, salvation and grace. In the last scene, Batman, like Jacob after wrestling all night with a nemesis, does not escape whole. He limps.