Did anyone besides me catch the similarity between the ending of this film and the ending of L.A. Confidential? He died a hero…

See it here:

http://blog.spout.com/2008/07/15/the-dark-knight-review/#comment-108413

I wanted to add a bit to your TDK discussion. I was right there with you when you started to discuss parallels with recent events of Iraq, terrorism, torture, spying, GW Bush, etc. I also felt uncomfortable with the idea that some would see this as support for the illegal and unconstitutional choices made my the American administration under the guise of “protecting” us. But then in the final act the film flips this over and rejects this way of thinking. But your review stops before you reach these important points. In the end we are offered choices. A choice between concluding that when dealing with terrorists you must act like a terrorist or realizing that rejecting this false choice is really the only way to beat terrorism. Terrorism wants to create just that, terror. If we become afraid and sacrifice the values (society, stability, rule of law, etc.) that the terrorists want to destroy, then what have we really gained? The first choice was the final choice made by Harvey Dent (Two Face). He became the evil he was trying to fight. Now the choice to reject the thinking of the terrorists and preserve civilization is embodied in the two boats on the harbor that are wired to explode. These civilians are given the option to possibly save themselves by giving into their fear of the unknown (the people on the other boat or the Joker) by killing others (in essence doing the bidding of the terrorist). In the end the choice to preserve civilization and reject the chaos and fear wins out, even if it means that there may be a higher chance of you or a loved one dying (people on boat or Rachel in the case of Bruce). In the end Batman also sides with civilization rather than Two Face and the Joker. He does not kill the Joker and the spying equipment is destroyed. [On a side note, I think there could also be an anti capital punishment thread here. On the boats there is the debate with the civilians over whether to sacrifice the criminals on the other boat in order to save themselves (society). In the end the civilians realize they would also be murderers and again no better than what they feared (criminals, terrorists, etc.). Even the criminals realized that killing an entire boat of innocent people because you are afraid was wrong (ie. bombing civilian populations in Iraq because someone said there might be WMDs in the country). This is once again paralleled by Batman not killing the criminal (Joker), even though the criminal killed those close to him.] Well that was longer than expected, but I felt that these were important “lessons” from the film that could be added to your original discussion.

I enjoy listening to your podcast. Best, John