"...everything begins from here..."

Rating: 10/10 (27 June 2005)

That was what I thought when the lights of the theater turned on, and I was still on my seat. It was quite difficult to bring my dad to see this movie, because of his 50-year-old-prejudice: "It's a kid's flick". Well, patience finally paid off and we went. It was quite a thrill to see a character as complicated and disturbed as Bruce Wayne in the silver screen; to see a tortured soul in search for an unreachable redemption; all what the real character Batman meant. This movie, really, is the beginning of a legend, of a myth created 60 years ago. Forget all those Burton-Schumacher attempts to approach to the man with the mask. Everything begins with Nolan's. About the cast, though Christian Bale was incredible as the Batman (just see his anger when he puts the cloak and mask), it's Michael Caine's representation of Alfred Pennyworth that caught all my attention. I don't want to bore you with details, but there's just one scene that remained in my mind for quite a while: When Bruce/Batman is under the effects of the Scarecrow's gas and is helped by Alfred. You can see how Bruce struggles with his fears on the limo, meanwhile Alfred drives and cries, unable to help him. That scene, I believe, represents the whole movie: a man fighting with his inner demons and those who are around him can't do nothing but see how he develops a never-ending battle into his auto-destruction. That's what Nolan does with his movie, that's what he captures, the essence of the main character's obsession (and doom). Forget you're dealing with a comic character. Nolan gives a total-realistic vision of a tortured man, who dresses up as a bat to deal with his own struggle: a never-ending battle to his past, and recover all what he thinks he lost when he was eight years old: his innocence.