Dark Knight

For reasons which, if I explained them, would probably make me sound like a misanthrope, I rarely see movies in the theater, but I went yesterday (to the earliest morning showing when there were only a dozen or so others in the house) to see The Dark Knight Rises. I found it better than did some of the critics though not quite as good as some of the Batman aficionados might have hoped it would be. Even so, there were lots of good special effects, a good musical score, and most of the cast did a fine job.

The best part of the film, for me, was the story line which is really the story of the conflict between totalitarian "humanist" leftism and the traditional American way of life. The speech given by the evil Bane was perhaps the clearest illustration of this. I'd heard that he sounds in this scene like some of the Occupy Wall Streeters, and he pretty much does. He promises to take the wealth from the 1% and give it to everyone else, and to do all sorts of other OWS types of things, but his real plan is to imprison, oppress and destroy Gotham, all in the name of bringing peace and justice to the city.

Bane embodies the aspirations of leftists ever since the French Revolution. The "trial" scenes where the accused were assumed to be guilty and the only question was how they would choose to die reminded me of Dickens' Tale of Two Cities. This is probably not a coincidence since the penultimate scene has the police commissioner quoting from the opening lines of that novel.

If anyone would like a metaphor for where radical leftism winds up they should watch The Dark Knight Rises, even in a theater. It's more than worth the price of admission.

Post-Hope and Change Depression

The video of this disillusioned Obama supporter has gone viral. How many of those who voted for Mr. Obama in 2008 can relate to her? How many of those will vote the same way in November?