Every good story has at its heart the story, Jesus Christ's crucifixion, death and resurrection. In Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises, that story is more self-evident (even in the title) than in most. Christian reviews, such as Focus on the Family's Plugged In have noted it. (See Register review here.)
Most of the reviews that I've read, however, have failed to note the film's attention to the broad theme of masculine protection, which was also modeled by Christ and the Twelve.
The moral clarity in the film makes it clear that evil exists and that we do need heroes to confront evil. Sometimes those heroes wear black; other times they wear blue.
By sheer "Godincidence," for me, the opening of the film coincided with an invitation to accompany a police officer on a ride-along. All day last Friday, I accompanied a man in blue during his 10-hour shift as a patrol officer. It was an unforgettable and valuable experience that not only opened my eyes to the underbelly of city life, but also impressed upon me the singular service that our men in blue provide. We owe our police officers a tremendous amount of respect and thanks for what they do each day.
Our men in blue place themselves squarely in between the citizen and evil. That evil comes in forms small and large, but know that it is evil. Day in, day out, our police officers are defusing situations that could easily turn sour, and by so doing, they are protecting the rest of us.
As John Podhoretz writes in his excellent Weekly Standard review "Evil Undone," the key moment in this summer's earlier blockbuster The Avengers occurs when all six superheroes line up iconicly along New York's Park Avenue.
In The Dark Knight Rises, the goosebump moment comes late in the film as the 3,000 police officers who have been trapped underground rush the streets as a unified force, taking on the criminals Bane has let loose on Gotham.
The most compelling heroes in the film are the characters of the man in black and of police officer John Blake. He is everything we expect a police officer to be: selfless, idealistic, ethical and heroic. Both men model sacrifice.
Just as our men in blue protect us from those who would do harm to our body, our real men in black protect us from those who would harm our souls. These are not jobs for the average lay man and woman; we are called to heroic virtue in other ways. Each and every day our men in blue rush headlong into situations that we have no business entering into: domestic disputes, burglaries, thefts and robberies, traffic accidents, drug deals and hundreds of other criminal acts.
"The Dark Knight Rises is very clear about where the wolves originate: hell," writes blogger Andrew Lynch at Orate Fratres. He's one of the few writers who grasps the larger picture. "Their attack comes not through Gotham's front door but from below," writes Lynch. "We also learn that there are some forces which ordinary men cannot hope to defeat without the help of 'superior air support' from above."
Scripture quite clearly tells us that some demons can be cast out only through prayer and fasting. The Church recognizes that some evil can only be cast out through an ecclesial act (known as exorcism) performed by a priest who has been set aside for this purpose. The priest stands between God and the layman. Both the man in blue and the man in black stand ready to take a literal or spiritual bullet for us.
We need both the men in black and those in blue.
Before police officers go on duty, they gather together with their leader for a briefing known as muster. Our men in black gather together spiritually praying the Liturgy of the Hours. Both uniformed groups are effective only to the degree to which they are united (in communion) in their service to something far larger than themselves.
"Taken as a whole, The Dark Knight Trilogy is a depiction of Christopher Nolan's robust anthropology of masculine protective duty," concludes Lynch. "For Nolan, Batman and Christ, a culture of life cannot exist without first establishing a culture of masculine protection."
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As a newly ordained priest and a 30 veteran police officer, I thank the author for this wonderful article. I have taken “ride-alongs” on and off for almost my entire career and they were always surprised at what it was we had to deal with, both on-duty and the lingering after effect off-duty.
PRAY - without ceasing - for your police. They need your secular and spiritual support. A police officer’s badge is known as his “shield,” it is worn with much pride and integrity. I encourage all of you, police or not, to always “carry with you the SHIELD of faith and truth” (Ephesians 6:16)for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.
In Christ and for souls,
Fr. Steve Gallagher
Diocese of Juneau
As the wife of an officer, thank you for this! So many times policemen take second place to firefighters, or are considered a nuisance because they write tickets. It’s refreshing to see some credit in writing!
Saw it last nite with my wife. I agree with the reviewer that there were some positive moral messages in the movie. However, don’t expect a very good one ... wooden acting, too many plot lines that feel like they are on life support, overly long. 2.5 stars.
Am I the only one that was bothered by the fact that Bruce Wayne/Batman committed(implied)fornication with that woman? It’s a sign of the times that they knew the the audience would not consider that a blemish on his stellar “good guy” image. Imagine if they had shown Bruce Wayne yelling at a child, a much lesser offense. People would have been shocked and seen it as an outrage.
I once had a partner who would continually say, “We are on a mission from God”. How true his statement is and will always be for officers. Thank you for this review and connection between Priest and Police Officers. Both are trying hard to stand between those that they have sworn to protect and the evil that prowls the earth. As a veteran police officer it is very important that officers continue to get spiritual support from their families, friends, priest and community through prayers and fasting. Each day takes its toll on police officers, as there are very few moments when officers are not confronting evil; all of which takes it toll on them.
It is important for all officers to be protected and guided by the hand of God and with the intersession of St Michael all officers may find the comfort in knowing that as St Michael the officer is fighting evil with our Lord as their leader and St Michael by their side as God’s 1st lieutenant.
As an eight year police officer who tries to practice his faith as best he can, I loved this article. It was emailed to our entire department by another officer. I very much appreciate the sentiment and the appreciation for officers. Those of us on patrol dont get thanked or get appreciated that often, especially since we are usually dealing with “evil” who really hate us. Thank you for the article and I think we should appreciate the few similarities between the lord and the story lines in the movie… most movies dont have anything close to that nowadays…
Great article making the comparison! You have it really right about police officers. I know from observation because in my family there are three: a retired 34-year veteran uncle, his son (a nearly daily Mass goer) who recently retired as a Captain with the state police, and his other son who worked his way up to a lieutentant (after yhears on the drug squad) in a major big city in our state. You’ve helped to enlighten people about what officers really go through day in and day out protecting us. Thank you, Tim!
Maria,
You’re absolutely right. Bruce Wayne’s tryst is a significant blemish on the film and his character, and was extremely disappointing. It added absolutely nothing to the film (spoiler alert) other than further demonstrating the further level of betrayal by the female character.
Officer Esparza,
While on break during the ride-along, a fellow officer came into the station and asked the officer I was with, “When did everyone begin hating us?” The other officer said, “Shortly after the time of the cave man.” I responded, “1968.”
The first officer wasn’t speaking only of the criminals, but of the public in general.
It is interesting that the general attitude towards police officers parallels that of the general attitude, in some areas, towards priests.
The point has been made that everyone loves a fire fighter. Unfortunately, most films and television have provided us with very inaccurate images of police officers, depicting them most often as aggressive and corrupt. We owe our officers AND our priests a tremendous amount of gratitude for what they do each day. Yes, our fire fighters rush headlong into burning buildings, but our police officers are often rushing headlong into they know not what - domestic situations that can turn very ugly very quickly, buildings where criminals wait with loaded guns, pulling over vehicles uncertain of what they’ll come face to face with. St. Michael the Archangel, protect our men in blue.
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