The Batman is back in the cinemas. Yeah there’s action and its Batman. Lots of tie ins with fast food restaurants. Toys all over the place. But, I thought I saw an Easter reference. Not an Easter egg and Easter reference.
At the films darkest there is still light. Wether this is the bat-signal, the street lights, screens, headlights, cars on fire, bullets. There is still light. A lot of scenes of Batman looking over the city at either sunrise or sunset. Is this the beginning of the end or is this the sun rising on a new dawn?
Fear is a Tool
Gotham is a nasty place. A city trapped in darkness, crime, corruption and urban decay. Batman narrates over select scenes in the movie where He informs us that fear is his main weapon.
“Fear is a tool. And when that light hits the sky, it’s not just a call. It’s a warning.”
After saving the victim of random gang violence the victim is in total fear of Batman. Unfortunately it appears Batman’s crusade is having the opposite effect.
As the movie progresses Batman is confronted again and again. His motives, his tactics, his biased view. They are all questioned. Catwoman questions his privilege. Gordon his ‘no gun’ policy. The Penguin questions his Spanish language skills. Alfred confronts Bruce’s fear of loosing family.
Something other than Vengeance
It is the Riddler that puts Batman in a place he never considered himself. An ally of destruction. This version of the Riddler is out to change Gotham. Riddler seeks to reveal its sins and wash it clean. For The Riddler the The Batman is a student to be taught the real way to become vengeance.
In response to the Riddler’s reveal our Batman is shocked. But should he be? They guy dresses as a bat and pummels people, using fear exclusively. The darkness is everywhere and every night he ventures out to do what he can. Vengeance and fear are tools, has he been consumed by them?
It all leads to a final scene of destruction and violence. Gotham city is on the verge of total collapse. This time, it is water that threatens to wash it away. Symbolism shifts accordingly as Batman is baptised by the flood. Rising out of the water no longer a tool of vengeance, but something different.
Flare in hand he guides people out of the wet and deep darkness towards safety, towards the light. The final scenes are of Batman on the roof helping an injured person to be airlifted. The injured person does not want to let go of Batman’s hand. Batman considers the possibilities of something else other than vengeance.
“Vengeance won’t change the past. Mine or anyone else’s. People need hope”
Standing Between Light and Dark
Where does The Batman stand? In the darkness dolling out punishment? Or, in the liminal space the edge of darkness and light showing us the way to hope? Sin and Vengeance leads to death. An eye for an eye only means that we all end up blind. Hope requires a different method a justice that restores, that forgives.
Fear, fire and brimstone, vengeance is not going to solve Gotham’s problems. It was never able to solve the problems between God and Creation. Our Easter message is supposed to be a message of hope. One where Jesus, in the fullness of his Humanity follows us into the darkness. Unto Death, nay Death on a cross.
Once again the Holy Saturday imagery of Jesus with us all, in the place of the dead rings loudly. Gotham as Sheol where we stumble in fear and darkness. Till the light shines and we can see the way ahead.
“In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:4-5)
Restoration, Justice and Hope
Heroes are supposed to give us hope. Hope that leads us to something better, brighter. To a place where every tear is wiped away. It is something to be treasured and protected. When we proclaim Christ in the Easter narrative we proclaim that there is a way out of darkness. That relationships and communities can be restored. That justice can flow like rivers.
We should be shocked when our calls for justice turn into vengeance. Jesus was sent to save, to make a way to restore our relationships. It is not an easy task. It requires training, work, thinking and more than just one person to do so. It takes a community, not a Batman.
Matt Reeves, The Batman is about a person realising that hope is required. That fear and vengeance alone cannot restore the community. It is a lesson he learns the hard way. A lesson we should be learning and repeating every Easter.
Phillip Hall has been too long in Melbourne to see AFL in the same light as those back in Fremantle. East Fremantle born and bred, he would love to see the Dockers back in the eight. But would settle for just beating West Coast twice a year.