REEL REFLECTIONS

STRUGGLES OF A FLAWED SUPERHERO
A Review of "Batman Begins"

David Greiser

I had plenty of reasons not to go and see "Batman Begins."

In the first place, there was the campy 1960s TV series starring Adam West as a lovable goofball in spandex. While I loved Batman as a 12-year-old, I could hardly imagine myself spending two hours in a theater watching "Biff!—Pow!—Ouch!" today.

Similarly, the narrative arc of the "Batman" films of the 1990s had devolved from a promising beginning to a campy, car-crash-laced ending in which the only interesting characters were the leering, cartoonish bad guys (Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito, and—gasp—Arnold Schwarzenegger). Why go to a film whose title seemed to promise only the origins of this silly story?

Clear from your mind any of the old Batman images. "Batman Begins" is truly an entirely new beginning. It is not a prequel to the cheesy ’90s movies or the cheesier TV series. Credit this thoughtful restart to director Christopher Nolan, who created the highly original mind-benders "Memento" (2000) and "Insomnia" (2002).

Nolan’s vision of "Batman" actually aims to recapture the original story of the dark, flawed, and mysterious superhero of the 1940s comic books. The original Batman is psychologically complex, haunted by memories, making up his life of crime fighting as he goes along, unsure of his role as a vigilante for justice.

Actor Christian Bale portrays the flawed superhero with a brooding depth. Though there is no way this character or this tale can be termed "realistic," Bale plays it with a seriousness that helps us to suspend our disbelief. The film itself is dark and shadowy, with special effects taking a back seat to fog and silhouettes.

Comic book aficionados already know the details of the Batman legend. For the uninitiated (which includes me—I had to do research), Batman is the alter ego of Bruce Wayne, a wealthy playboy with a dark past. As an eight-year-old, Wayne saw his parents murdered by a mugger in Gotham City (a New York City look-alike, though the movie was actually filmed in Chicago). Shortly before this, he fell into a cave where he was emotionally scarred by the flight of some bats (hence the choice of the bat character).

As a young adult, Wayne was inexplicably held in a brutal Asian prison camp. Here Bruce met a mentor, the mysterious Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson), who trains him in the mental disciplines of the martial arts and tries to recruit him for the vigilante-terrorist organization "The League of Shadows."

The League fights terror with terror. When Wayne learns that he will be required to kill and to internalize the evil that he wants to destroy to become a member of the League, he refuses membership and opts instead to create the double life of a vigilante who fights evil with a good heart. He will learn that it is harder than it looks.

Returning to Gotham, Wayne begins to create his crime-fighting character. Aided by his faithful butler Alfred (played with wise sympathy by Michael Caine), his childhood friend-turned D.A. Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes), and police scientist Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), Wayne gradually learns that Gotham City is controlled by a collection of forces so corrupt that the mafia is only the beginners’ level on the criminal totem pole. Beyond the mob, there are evil corporate executives, bad cops, mad psychiatrists, and a host of other ugly people and psychic nightmares.

I could delve deeper into the plot, but I won’t spoil some of the nice surprises and twists that emerge along the way. The larger ideas in the film deserve note. "Batman Begins" continues the theme of commingled good and evil forces found in films like the original "Star Wars" trilogy and the "Matrix" films. Are good and evil powers ever absolute? Not in the "Batman" worldview. The League of Shadows fights evil by becoming evil itself. The evil that Batman would fight is not only external—it is within him as well.

The moral canvas on which this film takes shape is one that is influenced by the ethical monism of Eastern thought but also, one could argue, by Augustinian thinking about original sin. There are bad guys, but no unequivocally good guys.

"Batman Begins" is a feast for lovers of myth and students of psychology. It is a deeply American myth in at least two ways. The theme of the individual vigilante who simultaneously fights crime and his inner demons is an echo of the American Western novel and film. This theme has made its way through stories as diverse as "High Noon" and "Dirty Harry."

"Batman Begins" is also a story that continues the longstanding bias Americans have had against cities. In American mythology, cities are usually manifestations of the evil side of human nature. Gotham City looks sleek and beautiful, but its people are the personification of greed and corruption.

Viewers may notice that it is always night-time in Gotham City. Psychologists will have fun with the archetypal images of bats and the bat-cave (which is a real cave in this film and not a high-tech play room as on the TV series.) The Batman persona comes to life deep within the bowels of the earth, and deep within the subconscious of Bruce Wayne.

The conclusion of the "Batman Begins" includes a strong hint of a sequel to follow. If subsequent stories are as thoughtfully told as this one is, I may finally become a fan of the superhero genre—or at least of the Caped Crusader.

—David Greiser preaches at Souderton Mennonite Church, Souderton, PA, and teaches preaching at Palmer Seminary in Philadelphia. Recently he has begun facing his inner fear of heights by skydiving