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.