The Dark Knight

“Some men just want to watch the world burn.”

Many people think of comic books and the characters included in them to be superficial and child-oriented. However, there are some very complicated and intricate heroes and villains in traditional comic books, the most interesting being Batman and the Joker. The Dark Knight explores these characters with more depth and intensity than we have seen before. This film flips between good and evil, morality and immorality, being selfless vs being selfish, and a multitude of other dichotomies.

The Joker is the most twisted, psychotic character in this film. He creates chaos for the sole reason of seeing how people react when they are in life or death situations. The joker assists in creating the tone of the film, with his horrific stories and his cunning plots, or with his agitated mannerisms and his completely alien nature.

Dialogue is tremendously important in this film. The way the Joker provokes Batman in the interrogation scene drives Batman into a rage that we haven't seen in this movie. There are many phrases used as motifs in the film that are very meaningful and have multiple meanings that extend past the film and into the real world; phrases which discuss the true nature of people, how society reacts when everything is going according to plan, and what individual's true nature is in the most dire of circumstances.

The character progression Bruce Wayne (or Batman) experiences is an amazing thing to experience. First we have a confident, even arrogant billionaire that thinks he has criminals all figured out. Not every aspect of his life is perfect, but at the beginning of the movie everything is manageable. Then along comes the Joker, and Batman's world is thrown into chaos. He starts making more risky choices, putting more people in danger, and having internal conflicts about whether he should show his face. Towards the end of the film, he morphs from the slightly honorable but mostly mysterious superhero to the scapegoat for the city and its corruption and crime. His morality wins the internal battle, even if it isn't in the way that the Joker intended.

This movie is an excellent portrayal of the internal conflicts that lie in all of us and of the power of emotional relationships. Some scenes make us doubtful of the good that humanity is capable of, but others restore our faith in the people around us.

From Hell

Jack the Ripper is the most iconic serial killer that has ever lived. His gruesome and public murder scenes and the eternal mystery that surrounds him make this twisted individual the perfect Hollywood villain. From Hell, one of many Jack the Ripper movies, does an excellent job of portraying the time period from the confusion and social issues that plagued London in the late 19th century. Inspector Abberline, an opium addict with a knack for dreaming the Ripper's murder scenes before they happen is the main character in this bloody film. He fights to expose the serial killer amidst the slums of the east end, the anti-Semitic riots threatening to break out, and the rigid classism that London is subject to. The fuzzy, short scenes and quick takes in the inspector's 'dreams' contribute to the hurried tone and the crazed, violent acts. Overall, From Hell is an excellent movie that did more than just showed us the crimes Jack the Ripper committed; it also demonstrated the situation and the social climate that allowed these horrific murders to be perpetrated.

Born on the Fourth of July

Ron Kovic is a paraplegic Vietnam War veteran, and Born on the Fourth of July is the story of his life. He is an All-American boy, patriotic and proud to serve his country in the Vietnam War. After enduring horrific treatment in Vietnam and back home in the veteran hospitals, his adoration for his home country dwindles and he returns to his home town a changed man. Kovic is under the pressure of a progressive brother who supports the Vietnam protests and an overbearing, hyper-religious mother. He goes through periods of his life when he is an alcoholic, a protester, and then a successful author. There are many film techniques used to signify Kovic’s damaged mental state and his fragile psyche. For the first half of the movie, every scene change was quick and dramatic, as if Kovic was always waking up suddenly from a bad dream. Once the protagonist came to terms with himself and his predicament, the scene changes began to happen slowly and calmly, as if his life was on track and whatever was to happen next was supposed to be coming up. Film music plays a large role in tying together all of the parts of Ron Kovic’s life. The song ‘You’re a Grand Old Flag’ is played the first time Kovic sees a Fourth of July parade with Vietnam War veterans. At this point in the story, he is a young boy with a lot of love for his country and tons of respect for the soldiers that fought in their wars. He idolized these veterans, and it conflicted him to see the men broken, with their eyes vacant, jumping at every sound of a firework. The second time this song is played, Kovic was a disabled veteran himself and he was speaking at a Fourth of July celebration in his home town. He has an incident on stage when the sound of a helicopter reminds him of a very vivid memory of the war. This is one of his most damaged moments. The last time ‘You’re a Grand Old Flag’ is played is at the end of the film, where Kovic is being pushed down a hallway towards a stage, where he is about to introduce his memoir. He is adored and respected, and he mentions in a quick interview that he finally feels as if he is home.

Shake Hands with the Devil Documentary

There are two Shake Hands with the Devil movies, one documentary filmed ten years after the Rwandan genocide and one feature film that came out thirteen years after the conflict. The documentary was very personal as we followed Romeo Dallaire through the different sites where the genocide had happened. We got to experience his feelings and thoughts about being back in what he called a beautiful country. As well, his wife was there to talk about how he had changed and how his PTSD had affected their home life. Dallaire still blames himself for many of the incidents that happened, and explained why he was so eager and optimistic to stop hell on earth in Rwanda. Dallaire describes the sights, sounds, and smells of the massacre, and how he can still remember specific conflicts to this day. We see just how evil some humans can be, and yet in the midst of all of this evil how one brave man, self-described as not a hero but a humanist, can stay hopeful and just barely stay sane.

Ghosts of Rwanda

Ghosts of Rwanda was a documentary about the Rwandan genocide of 1994. There are scenes from the real sites of massacres by the Hutu extremists, and extensive interviews with UN, United States, and Red Cross officials. It was a very conflicting look at the officials' opinions about their inaction, and as we know, hindsight is 20/20. The fight between humanitarianism and national interests was never more apparent than when the interviews with important officials in the United States Department of Defence. There is a lot of deference to authority when we hear these officials speak. Every single one of them claims that they did not have enough power to effect change, so they did nothing.

As well, we see how different aid organizations responded to the effort, and how much of a difference having support makes. The head of the Red Cross mission to Rwanda was much more calm and did not have any of the negative after-effects that Romeo Dallaire experienced, being backed by the UN. The head of the Red Cross did his job, which was to save lives, and experienced just as much horror if not more than Romeo Dallaire did, being up close and personal with thousands of victims. Even through these experiences, the help that his organization gave him made the difference between coming back from Rwanda shaken but mentally stable, and coming back from Rwanda with post-traumatic stress disorder and suffering from self-blame and suicidal thoughts.

I believe that this documentary provided a lot of professional insight that we did not receive from the Hollywood-produced movies, although they were surprisingly accurate. It may not have been thrilling and moving in the way Hotel Rwanda was, but it carried a lot of weight and was an excellent film in its own right.

Apocalypse Now

“Do you know that ‘if’ is the middle word in life?”

            Apocalypse Now is a remarkable movie directed by Francis Ford Coppola (the director of the Godfather movies), starring Martin Sheen. It is an appropriation of the Joseph Conrad novella Heart of Darkness to the Vietnam war.

            There were many ingenious uses of lighting and contrast in the film. For example, Kurtz’s face was always seen in some semblance of darkness, with only sections of his face illuminated. The only time we saw Kurtz’s face in full (albeit dim) light, it was disguised with camoflague paint. This represents the fractured psyche that Kurtz has and the fact that we only see parts of him, but never a whole man.

            The phrase ‘fog of war’ is used very literally in this film. There seems to always be a coloured haze covering part of the scene. This accompanies sections of the film like the playboy scene where the army men are starved for female attention under the ‘fog of war’, the scene on the boat where Willard’s friends are wary of a Vietnamese boat they suspect is smuggling weapons. As well, the fog of war could apply to the rampant drug problem the soldiers experience in Vietnam. Everyone seems to be under the influence of acid, marijuana, cigarettes, or alcohol during the movie. All of these actions can culminate in bad decisions made while under the thumb of wartime.

            When Kurtz spoke his last words, ‘the horror’, I think he was speaking about not only the horror of the Vietnam war, but also the horror that is thrust upon every soldier that has to fight and for whom killing becomes an everyday action. I think Kurtz is mourning the loss of innocence for these everyday people torn out of their sheltered lives and placed at the front of a battle, as much as he is mourning all of the lives lost in the war.

He is also commenting on the chain of command and the narrow path soldiers are allowed to walk in the army. I see his going rogue as a testament to how repressed the army can be, and I believe this is why he converts every soldier that tries to assassinate him into one of his followers: the soldiers gain a sense of autonomy and freedom if they follow Kurtz. They start to subscribe to the primal instincts of human nature instead of the very orderly, secretive society that is the army.

            As for the discussion about whether this film is pro- or anti-war, I believe that it is primarily an anti-war film. As much as the affiliation with or against war may be irrelevant to the themes shown in the film, I think that the character of Kurtz and his immense accomplishments within the army and his complete separation from his past self in favour of being an unbridled, self-determined man. We also see how dependent people become on the thrill of war, and how they even get used to the feelings they get while out in the field. None of these have positive outcomes, so I would say that Apocalypse Now is an anti-war film.

Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump is one of the most universally well-loved movies of recent times. Its simple storyline and endearing characters, along with an easy to understand version of all of America's recent history make it an instant hit for the general public.

The symbolism of the feather floating in the wind from the beginning to the end of the movie was a cute motif that added depth to the introduction and conclusion of the film. The feather represents Forrest, floating whichever way life takes him, not affected in a positive or negative way by all of his successes, famous encounters, business breakthroughs, or tropical storms. He floats on by while other people are weighed down by multiple presidential assassinations, name-calling, and prejudice. It is his calm acceptance of the tide of life that brings him back to his hometown and the people he loves.

The one constant in Forrest's live is his love for his childhood friend Jenny. He is always thinking about her, he continues to do things for her even though she treats him badly and tells him to stay away from her, and his sole motivation is to find her again and stay with her. This is one of Forrest's characteristics that sets him apart from the other people in the movie, who are interested in money or power. He is only interested in love, and he knows where to find it.

This film is different from every other biography-like film because it has a freshness, an optimism, and an emotional maturity that most people interesting enough to be the focus of a movie are lacking. Most stories we see are about an amazing person who was somehow tortured by their inner demons and now it is taking over their professional life. Here we have someone who can not even comprehend evil, let alone use it to manipulate people around him.

Some people are spoken about as having 'not grown up yet'. If this is what not growing up entails, being innocent and optimistic and pure in heart, then I would love to stay a child.