FRIENDS and countrymen:
I have not come here to bury the Occupy Movement, but to praise it.
That quote, loosely adapted from Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar," is not true for the movie "The Dark Knight Rises."
The latest Batman installment, third in a trilogy of meatier super hero movies based on "the Batman" comic book character by director and screenwriter Christopher Nolan, has strong allusions to the Occupy Wall Street Movement. It pokes and prods the rich, or in the Occupy vernacular, the 1 percent, in not-so-subtle ways.
It puts the Occupy message into the mouth of the evil villain - Bane. Seems like this movie's more damaging to the left than to the right. (Some have said it was a dis on Bain Capital, a company once run by Mitt Romney.)
The movie's antagonist, an exile turned away by the League of Shadows (see the first Nolan movie, "Batman Begins," 2005) puts capitalism in his bull's-eye and literally occupies Wall Street and New York, er, Gotham City. There are speeches made by the evil Bane talking about removing wealthy and corrupt leaders and giving "the people" their rightful power.
One scene shows a Batmobile-type hovercraft zipping down a Manhattan street, past a shot of a Saks Fifth Avenue store as the city is occupied. Even more blatant, there's a scene in which a rich man is hiding under a piece of Rococo furniture in what presumably is a high-rise apartment, only to be dragged away by one of the 99
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percent now running Gotham with Bane.When I saw the movie, I was reminded of my last trip to New York City in October, when Occupy Wall Street was rallying in a small city park nearby.
I stood a good 500 yards from the capital of Western wealth. Police barricades blocked the entrance to the New York Stock Exchange Building to all but traders and office workers. Later, NYPD officers wearing crisp blue uniforms patrolled the streets, some on horseback, swarming Lower Manhattan in anticipation of the anti-movement's next strike. But nothing happened, at least not that day. And I still don't recall any daggers being thrust into the heart of capitalism by the fledgling group.
As an aside, a device made popular in Shakespeare tragedies, Wall Street didn't need any Bane or Occupiers to toss monkey wrenches into the economy. It managed to mess things up on its own through greedy brokers and dishonest trading based on faulty mortgages and a pyramid scheme involving credit default swaps. But that, as they say, is history.
My point is this movie - a reminder that it is just that - doesn't pay homage to Occupy. It shatters it. It directly lifts themes and some language and puts them in the mouth of an evil terrorist who loses credibility with his twisted plan to kill innocent people.
Yes, I know, that's entertainment. But why aren't I hearing more outrage from the Occupy Movement about this? The group is clearly cast in this unflattering light. To tell you how unflattering will reveal too much of the plot and I don't want to be a spoiler for those who haven't seen it yet.
Even though Nolan and others who made the movie say they didn't base the character or the plot on the Occupy movement, that's not the point. Even if it was not intentional, the perception is there. And perception is what sways public opinion. That can't be good for a movement that just got into trouble for drawing on the sidewalk in L.A with chalk.
Unless the folks from Occupy adhere to that old Hollywood adage: There's no such thing as bad publicity.
Steve.scauzillo@sgvn.com
626-962-8811 ext. 2237