Into the Fire

Okay, all of the major fanfare, hooplah, and publicity about record-breaking numbers have died down, soon to be started up again as the speculation about the Oscar raises its cacophony to a fever pitch. Will Heath Ledger be posthumously awarded the Best Actor award for his haunting portrayal of The Joker or will he not? For those of you who’ve seen this film—and even for those of you who haven’t because in essence it makes no difference—what do you think?

I could say since Johnny Depp didn’t win one for his characterization of the beloved Captain Jack Sparrow, then absolutely not. Conjure up another Sean Penn performance in some other actor and pretend that he playing himself is worthy of an Oscar. But then that would be cynical, right? Honest, but cynical.

Let me say I think Heath Ledger’s performance was unique, intense, and a very intriguing interpretation of the role. The lip-licking tongue usage to almost slurp some of his speech was an incredible technique which he used to perfection, adding to his over the edge delivery of everything he proposed, described, or said. He never wavered in character, and he personified both a masochistic and sadistic sociopath, a formidable antagonist for Batman.

The special effects were marvelous, and I absolutely enjoyed the “war rooms” in the secret Bruce Wayne/Batman (Christian Bale) hideouts where all the inventions of imaginative weapons and technical creations took place with Alfred (Michael Caine) and Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) easily in command. Loved the cars and cycles.

The Dark Knight features the exploration and exploitation of evil. What drives a man to it, what keeps a man from it? The Joker knows all the right buttons to push (pun intended) to force individuals to commit it, only to discover that Batman comes very close but never quite steps over the edge to embrace it. The Joker is astonished when two ferries full of people are given a choice to destroy one another in order to save themselves and at the very last possible moment elect not to. He sees himself and Batman as two sides of the same coin, much like the hero-type District Attorney who, when he suffers great loss, reacts with a cold, crazed vengeance at the flip of his coin. The eternal struggle between good and evil doomed to battle it out until one or the other succumbs to either force . . .

The 2 hour, 32 minute movie written and directed once again by Christopher Nolan (also directed Batman Begins) along with Jonathan Nolan and David S. Goyer felt a bit long after the 2 hour mark, but suggested editing would only have been in short increments because the majority of the film kept the viewer engaged. The story itself contained all the elements of good vs. evil, heroism, murder, mayhem, and self-sacrifice. The quandary of making moral decisions often resulted in catastrophic failures. The darkness seemed to overwhelm the protagonist as each loss compounded the one preceding it. This was not a “light”, cartoon-ish film. Instead it was shrouded in The Joker’s relentless pursuit of evil, spreading it around and infecting others like a disease.

Without knowing the actors to be nominated in this year’s films, I can’t say that Heath Ledger’s performance as The Joker is an indisputable winner. Creepy, inventive, definitely unique and worthy of recognition for his efforts. Beyond that, it’s hard to say conclusively that this is a Best Actor performance since once he established his character as weird and villainous, nothing much more was required of it.

It was also impossible to ignore—at least for me—that I was watching an actor who fought real demons and lost the battle. While the coroner can determine his death as an “accidental overdose”, I find it hard to believe that an intelligent young man of this day and age could possibly figure he would survive the toxic combination doses of sedatives and other drugs found in his system. His last two roles involved considerable evil, and if it can be trusted as fact, it was reported he was having a hard time shaking that evil once he left the set. No one knows for sure. Not here on earth anyway.

What we do know is Heath Ledger lives on in eternity. We just don’t know where. And that is not only sad but potentially tragic.

Father, you take no pleasure in anyone’s death. You welcome those who love your Son, and you grieve when people turn away and refuse Him. You’ve made the way to heaven and made it clear there is one way to get there: through Jesus Christ. You knock on the doors of hearts every moment and wait to see who will open their hearts to you. Who will turn their lives over to the One who loves them more than they can imagine? I pray for more souls, Lord. More to come, to open the doors of their hearts, to know the love of Jesus. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.