Friday, July 25, 2008

Dark Knight

The Dark Knight was an interesting movie. I definitely do not recommend taking young students to see this movie. Even some 13 and 14 year olds may not be ready for the kind of violence that is at times simply alluded to. I had to turn my head a couple times because of where I thought they were going to go. They didn't go to those places, but the illusion was almost too much. There are some lessons to learn in this movie:
  • First, there are difficult moral decisions to make in life. Especially in leadership. Like it or not those decisions have consequences both good and bad.
  • Second, anyone who wants to do something good especially if it is significant will be attacked for doing so.
  • To quote another movie, "no sacrifice, no victory" (Great gpa Witwiki) Leaders will have to sacrifice for the greater good! The greater good is always to someone else's benefit and not to ours.
  • Money is most often not the answer to the problems people face (Bruce Wayne often suffered because of his fortunes).
  • In the end the good guy might win, but it is not without paying a price.
  • There is no rest for those who chose to fight evil because evil never rests.
Perhaps the most intense point that can be taken from this film is that man is much more capable of evil than of good. The Joker is not about money or power, instead he just wants to "see the world burn" as Alfred puts it. This is so true of man in his sinful state. The part that is missing is the story of redemption. This is a story of evil fighting good and good fighting evil. The story of Jesus is about evil fighting good while good seeks to redeem evil. Jesus came to turn those who are evil towards a good God, not to simply destroy evil. Gotham needs more than a symbol, it needs a savior. Man doesn't need a good example, man needs a savior who can redeem, reconcile, and atone for man's evil.

The Dark Knight is Dark, but it is worth seeing.

No comments: