"Batman Begins": Echos of a post-9/11 world?

Movie Gazette ^ | 6-8-2005 | Anton Bitel

[Bratch]

'Batman Begins' is emphatically concerned with retributive justice and the politics of fear - themes which have an inescapable geopolitical resonance in a post-9/11 context. Yet after the disappointingly simplistic takes on the dynamics of revenge offered by recent films like The Punisher and Man on Fire, it is gratifying to see that Nolan's film depicts the morality of justice in a manner that is anything but cartoonish.

As Wayne struggles to do what is right, he is informed as much by the values of the judicial system, of law enforcement and of patriarchal philanthropy (values embodied respectively by Rachel, Gordon and, through Alfred, Wayne's own father) as he is by anger, fear and a desire for vengeance (an ideology represented by the fascistic 'League') - and so the film's dialogue, scripted by David S. ('Dark City') Goyer, weaves an ongoing, highly nuanced argument about crime, punishment, and the uses and and abuses of terror. It is inevitable that Wayne become an extra-judicial vigilante - for that is the very core of his legend - but the film ends not on a celebratory note, but rather with dark mutterings about 'escalation', and a suggestion (fulfilled by the films to which this stands as a prequel) that the beginnings of Batman also mark the beginnings of a new, more dangerous sort of criminal, modeled on Batman's own underground methods.

From this it is not difficult to unmask a multi-faceted commentary on America's current flouting (however well-intentioned, or even necessary) of international law in its War on Terror, and a subtle warning about what the consequences may be. Such serious and intelligent engagement with the issues that darken our own times make 'Batman Begins' more than merely an entertaining blockbuster about a man in a cape.

[Bratch]

Please be gentle with me. It's my first time.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

OK.

Feel FRee to comment on the article you posted.

[MikefromOhio]

and so what do you think of this article?

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

Silence is deadly.

Tick-tock.

[MikefromOhio]

hmmmmmm..............

[ClearCase_guy]

This movie just shows that Lucas hates Bush and was trying to curry favor with the French, and furthermore ...

Ooops. Wrong thread.

[MikefromOhio]

LOL!

[Slings and Arrows]

So, whaddya think of that?

[Mr. Jazzy]

Really hadn't planned on seeing the movie, but I just might make time for it now.

Thanks for the post.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

Well, that's it......

Bring in the felines.

Oh, and I WAS first!!

[MS.BEHAVIN]

Hmmmmm indeed...
hey Meekie..
Does it Pass the sniff test?
Ms.B

[Tribune7]

Oh, give him time. Batman isn't a zotable offense.

[Slings and Arrows]

[expatguy]

Hrmmm... what do we have here?

An American Expat in Southeast Asia

[MikefromOhio]

yes you were :)

[MikefromOhio]

LOL....

silence....

I hear crickets!!

[MS.BEHAVIN]

Yeah, same here!
Ms.B

[MikefromOhio]

[MS.BEHAVIN]

LOL
El Zotamundo!
Ms.B

[William Terrell]

You guys are too zotigious