Heath Ledger and The Dark Knight

Much has been said about the late Heath Ledger's performance in The Dark Knight.  Many have cited it as being extraordinary and "one for the ages".  Others have claimed that it is the performance that "claimed" Ledger's life.  And some have dismissed it outright (though very few) saying that it is all the result of an excessive hype machine.  I am in the camp who believes that Ledger's performance is indeed "one for the ages" as it is a totally unique and savage portrayal of pure evil.  There is no rhyme or reason behind the Jokers madness other than to bring the city of Gotham to its knees.  His purpose is to bring about chaos, as is defined in a brilliant monologue that the Joker delivers to a scarred Harvey Dent in the hospital - 

"upset the established order and everything becomes chaos. I am an agent of chaos. And you know the thing about chaos, Harvey? It's fair."

Ledger is charismatic and simultaneously terrifying in the role.  In a way it reminded me very much of the first time I saw Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lector.  He was instantly likable and human, yet undeniably scary.  The Joker is a very different kind of villain than Lector, but we like him for many of the same reasons; the biggest one of all being that we really don't know a whole hell of a lot about him.  This makes him intriguing and we as the audience spend the course of the film watching intently attempting to figure him out and yet never getting there.  Ledger's best scene in the film is now the infamous interrogation room scene.  And I'm not talking about the section where he gets rammed into a plate glass window.  No, I'm referring to when he is just sitting and talking to Batman.  The way Ledger delivers his lines is uncannily insane and yet at the same time the Joker represents a sort of dark truth throughout the course of the Dark Knight.  That truth is, that good and evil are essentially one in the same.  It's a theme that has been explored in other films, but in our post 9/11 world the Joker's sinister monologue is even more haunting and thought provoking - 

"To them you're just a freak, like me.  They need you right now.  And when they don't, they'll cast you out like a leper. you see Their morals, their code... it's a bad joke.  And dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. I'll show you when the chips are down.  These civilized people? They'll eat each other.  See I'm not a monster.  I'm just ahead of the curve."

This hits home on several counts.  What does it mean to be a terrorist? A freedom fighter? A villain? A hero?  What does it cost to save a life?  To save a city?  To save yourself?  The Joker's point is that perhaps none of us can be saved and he spends the entire films attempting to illustrate this point.  In our post 9/11 world this is a discomforting thought.  In the end the Joker's point is only partly realized by the downfall of Harvey Dent, but its powerful nonetheless.  If a man so good can eventually become a villain that we turn on, who's to say that it couldn't happen to any one of us?  The reason why the interrogation scene is the Ledger's best in the film is because its the one scene where there are no tricks up his sleeve (well sorta, there is a big payoff at the end of this scene).  He's not goofing off or propelled by some large action sequence where he gets to have some "wow" moments.  Instead here he is calm and collected and stating what Batman and few of us would ever really want to hear and that makes the scene powerful.  It's the way that Ledger delivers this dialogue with absolutely no hidden agenda, it's blunt and to the point, and its one of the few times we realize how human the Joker really is as a villain.  He is undeniably evil, but at the same time you can't help but admire him.  And that is the scary part about real evil.  It's a part of all of us.  That's what makes Ledger's portrayal of the Joker just so damn watchable.  It's honest.

Some have claimed that the reason behind the Dark Knight's success is due to Ledger's untimely death.  I would hope that we as a society would not be this sick and sad, but we are.  It's true.  We have a fascination with death.  I will admit that due to Ledger's death it made me anticipate The Dark Knight even more, but it was not THE reason for me to see the film.  But I guarantee you that there were several people who came out of the woodwork to simply see what the fuss was about and see the late Heath Ledger deliver his swan song.  These are people who care nothing about Batman or the fact that Ledger's performance has been getting some of the best reviews of the year. No, these are people who look at this as a sort of freak show.  People who squeaked with glee when they saw the Joker slam a man's head into a pencil, or mow down rows of innocent civilians in cars just so he could get close to the batman.  The Dark knight is a dark and sadistic film, but it's also a brilliant one.  And while many people I'm sure saw the film just because Ledger died, there are also thousands upon thousands who were eagerly awaiting this picture like me and who paid good money to see one of the greatest blockbusters in years.  People should go see the film because of how good it is and how great Ledger's performance is.  But don't join the bandwagon just because the guy died.  It's an insult to him and his craft.  He was a great actor and he could have been one of the all time greats.  I have a feeling he was just getting warmed up, but that's part of the problem.  We have a tendency to dismiss young performers because we always anticipate they will do something better.  Well folks this is it.  Ledger will never do anything better than this because he will never have the chance.  The academy made one mistake when they didn't award him the Oscar for playing Ennis Delmarre in Brokeback Mountain (one of the greatest performances ever committed to film).  Let's hope that they don't make another and that they remember this performance come years end.  It really is one for the ages and we will never see anything like it again.