Saturday, November 24, 2007

Heroes of Batman Begins

Today my brother and I watched Batman Begins. The movie is 2 hours, 20 minutes long, but if you skip the fighting and driving scenes in the second half of the movie, you can cut it about in half without missing anything. We watched the whole thing; brothers need appeased sometimes. He had a birthday this week. And I didn't have anything else to do that required as little energy.

Thinking doesn't require a lot of energy, so I did that. And I decided that even though Batman is a hero, the bigger heroes in the movie are:

1. Sgt. Gordon, who was a good cop in a corrupt system for at least 14 years. He kept fighting bad guys and doing what he could, each day watching his attempts accomplish apparently nothing. How many times did he look at little boys like Bruce who lost their parents - and he couldn't stop it? But he kept fighting because it was right.

2. Lucius Fox, who believed in his work, believed in the mission of his company. He is smart, but on a deep level that doesn't need to brag. He kept his own counsel. When the time was wrong to be speaking and acting, he was preparing. That takes a lot of patience, wisdom, and courage.

3. Rachel Dawes was an idealist, yes, and young. But she didn't use her compassion in an easy place, somewhere outside Gotham. She could have escaped, but she dreamed of making a difference. She couldn't be bought. No loyalty took precedence over her love for the truth. Her convictions led her to confront almost everyone in the entire movie. Without her voice, Bruce would not have been the principled, sold-out hero that fought for Gotham at every cost to himself.

I need inspiration from heroes like this. People who behind the scenes, faithfully, every day, when results remain to be seen, keep fighting for what's right. They take time to prepare for what God has for them. Things and attachments are the trappings of their service, not the gods they serve.

My life has no Batman. But I do know many of these heroes, and I'm grateful to God for them. Do you know any? Maybe you should tell them thank-you, too.

To God be all glory.

3 comments:

The Warrior said...

Skp the fighting scenes? Those are the best parts, Lisa! (I've done some of those kicks!)

Heroes. They exist. I love them. And yes, I know some.

Spencer

Brian said...

A buddy of mine and I both loved the quote:

I won't kill you, but I don't have to save you.

Lisa of Longbourn said...

So I got Batman Begins for my birthday. It's the second movie I own that I watch in what I'm going to call L-forward, instead of fast forward. It means skip the scenes that are pointless.

Actually, ok, I confess I watch the fight scenes at the beginning, because there's so much conversation going on. But at the end, fighting and car chases, pretty much skip those. Batman Begins' chapters are really good for that; Pirates of the Caribbean chapters were like a fifth of the movie each!

An Amish man engaged a trespasser, "I would not hurt thee for the world, but thou art standing where I'm about to shoot."

I don't know anything about Batman except this movie (and that Robin shows up somewhere along the way). Did Liam Neeson's character really die? He could have really used an understanding that Bruce didn't have to save him on the mountain, either.

Isn't it amazing how the League of Shadows seemed so good and just, with only little things wrong? How often do movies promote zero compromise? For that matter, how often do churches? How often do I?

To God be all glory,
Lisa of Longbourn