sikax wrote:I think the prison escape scene did it for me. That was good stuff, ya know, "You need to fear death to escape" and all that.
The escape from the pit is the entire trilogy for me. It comes full circle with themes about fear it had been exploring since the first one. In Batman Begins, Ra's al Ghul tells Wayne that he must defeat his fear to become "more than just a man"(or something like that), which is one of the reasons he chooses to wear a bat costume...terrorizing his enemies with his very own deep fears. Fear of bats being one of his deepest fears, since he was attacked by bats in a well he fell into as a child(this fear then leading to his parents' deaths...making it more traumatic). But, as I see it, this training from Ra's al Neeson encourages an antagonistic relationship(as opposed to embracing) with his own fear...shutting off that part of himself...turning his own will against itself...creating an internal incongruity. This is worsened when Rachel is killed in the second one. He loses some of that will to live.
I feel like the little speech the old man gives him in the pit addresses this. "You do not fear death.
You think this makes you strong. It makes you weak.....How can you move faster/fight longer than possible
without the most powerful impulse of the spirit?....Then make the climb...
As the child did. Without the rope. Then fear will find you again."'
There is deep wisdom, and poignant subtleties about the internal/subjective human experience, that are being expressed there(That certain haters can't see and/or appreciate. Yeah! Come at me haters!!!)...things that are difficult and/or near impossible to articulate. Though, I admit that I may be reading more into it than Nolan intended, I somewhat doubt that because I've seen similar wisdom in his other films. It was important for Bruce to embrace his fear, rather than fight it, because it's a part of his spirit/will. He was weakened because his will was turned against itself...he was in a discordant state. Because he
believed he needed to be fearless to succeed. Though some of us do so more/less than others, I think most of us generally live life that way(due to the nature of thought/construct), without presence and internal oneness/balance(I remember talking about this with you on the other board. I've had many times in my life where I've felt completely "present". Feeling like I'd just suddenly woken up from a dream that felt completely real. Just
being, without the typical discordance the mind can create). The rope represents the safety net of our minds(the constructs we create that distance ourselves from present being/experience and confuse us...the constructs that convince us we
need them to be ourselves...to the point where we are unable to distinguish them from our most present selves)....something
CHILDREN lack when they are really young...but as they get older, they learn to develop more and more constructs and maps of
their own selves to "live life" vicariously through...rather than living life presently/directly. Just being. And the more trauma a person experiences through life, the more likely they develop these particular defense mechanisms that distance themselves from...themselves(often necessary for survival at the time, but unhealthy in the long run). The way our will interacts with our minds(source of thought/language), tends to pit will against will. Dividing us against ourselves...so that our will/being is scattered all over our day to day lives...instead of having one "center"...one fluid sense of being.
I guess what adds to the personal significance for me is that these are self-actualizing lessons that I learned over time...over the course of the trilogy...'cause all three films were made over about a decade. I'm still fairly young, so that's a lot of growing/maturing/evolving. The themes I saw in the first movie when I was much younger, meant something different to me then. As I matured, that meaning evolved into something else over time...and the speech/climbing out of the pit moment represented that personal evolution for me...an evolution the character seemed to be making. Then when Bruce makes it to the top, right before the leap, bats suddenly fly out over his head. I said to myself "Fuck you, Nolan!" for making me have to fight back tears in a theater while watching a movie about fucking Batman...of all things! It's just an unexpected, yet perfectly symbolic, full-circle moment. From his falling in a well full of bats as a child, and then embracing that fear(a fear he thought he needed to "conquer"...a fear he fought his whole life) to escape the pit. Jesus. That's a spiritual moment. And you haters can't see how meaningful that is???? You should be ashamed of yourselves![none]
Then on top of that you've got Hans Zimmer, who does music for a lot of Nolan's movies, composing music that perfectly coincides with and intensifies these poignant moments. I became a Nolan fan after 'Inception', but I became a Nolan
fanboy after this moment from TDKR. He explores subtle and/or unclear things about the human experience/emotion/spirituality in a way that makes me feel like he sees certain things the way I do. And he has managed to put that on film consistently enough for me to say this dude "gets it". I feel a similar way about M. Night. I don't care how many bad movies that bastard has made since. They've both made at least 2 or 3 movies that have been meaningful in ways I didn't think could even be expressed in film. And have done so in with unexpected topics/genres(superhero movies, horror, thrillers/suspense, etc)
And I honestly didn't pay much attention to any political implications in all three films. I see there is a lot of talk about corrupt police departments...but Nolan attributes that to mob infiltration...rather than the fact that cops serve the rich and powerful. So, I'm sure Nolan's politics are fucked up. What rich, white man has truly progressive politics?
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Maybe Chomsky? Is he even rich tho?
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I mean, it's impossible not to.
