Rise

"Why do we fall, sir? So we can learn to pick ourselves back up." - Michael Caine, Batman Begins

As someone who has spent a good portion of his life in a movie theater, I can honestly say how much the tragedy in the Aurora theater during the midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises struck close to home for me. I was also one of the people that went to my local theater at midnight to see the first showing of the movie, being a long time fan of Nolan's vision of Batman. Not only that, but I like to imagine the cinema is being a place where people can gather to experience dreams and share experiences together such as going for a bike ride across a moonlit sky or standing on the bow of a fantastic luxury liner. Sadly, for that theater in Aurora, they had their experience robbed from them and replaced with horrific tragedy. For me, the act of depriving someone of their joy is one of the most horrific acts one human being can do to another. So right now, I want answers from James Holmes as to what would possess a human being to commit such a horrendous act. However, no matter what his answer will be, it will not be enough for me.

As horrific as the tragedy was, I keep trying to reflect on The Dark Knight Rises, but find it difficult to do so without thinking of the event in Colorado. Yet, when I do think about the movie, one thing came to my mind that makes me grateful for The Dark Knight Rises: it's message about coming back from tragedy. I keep thinking about how fitting it is that the movie on the screen was probably one that had the best message for people trying to come to terms with it. (If you don't want to know too much about the story, stop reading now.) Without giving too much away, the story takes a really dark turn that really ups the stakes for the hero. A horrifically brutal act prevents Batman from helping Gotham during one of the darkest times that any city has ever had to endure. Yet, he builds himself back up to return to the city during it's darkest time to return as their hero.

And that is the power of movies that I hope people can still hold on to and the power that I think this story has that can help people endure in the wake of this senseless act. No matter what terror a nightmarish figure can create, it is ultimately the human spirit that will triumph and survive. We have to hold on to these themes that can be found in The Dark Knight Rises and other movies to help us remember the good that exists in humanity, even when times seem completely hopeless and without reason. That is the power that movies have and that is why I think there can be solace found in the very movie this tragedy took place in.

I don't write this as a means to get people to see this movie, but only as a means for myself to make sense out of this act and find that glimmer of hope that always exists in tragedy. I like to think that the themes that exist in the movie are themes that can help people endure some of the darkest tragedies. While there is still a need to have a time for mourning and I share that time with the victims and their families, I also like to think that the movie itself can be cathartic as most movies have the power to. If you do decide to see the movie, you will see a movie that has themes about rising up from the most insurmountable of tragedies. When the dust has settled and we do start to try and make sense out of what happened, before we resort to TSA tactics for movie theaters, let's stop and think of the good that exists in humanity also and how we can rise up from tragedies like the heroes we idolize on the screen.