Inclusion

India is probably fighting a civil war right now, we could all turn our eyes and call it a “Naxal Menace”, or “Maosists” or any such term, but the fact remains that it is a civil war, albeit in a small scale. Naxals beheaded a cop, kidnapped one, hijacked a train, 200 naxals attacked a police station. The rich dont care about all of this, and the poor are taking up arms in protest. In terms of inclusiveness, of integrating people divided by language, culture, religion, politics and geography, India as an experiment has come very far, farther than most countries, but all of the current violence is surely an indication of how far it has yet to go. For Indian democracy has failed miserably in a lot of cases.

True, it may have made all attempts to integrate tribals and other lower economic castes into the democratic process, and in a lot of cases has also succeeded well, but the growing Naxal threat, rising farmer suicides is symptomatic of deeper problems: lack of inclusiveness in mainstream democratic processes, failure of institutions to provide social and economic mobility, rising entry barriers into various institutions(democratic and political), and the rise of a privileged class which can afford to ignore all of these problems and lead their ignorant life in happy seclusion. For as long as Indians keep ignorging their poor, these problems will exist, and keep escalating until it blows up in all of our faces, but by then it will be too late to do anything anyway. As Rahul Gandhi said, we have to bridge tha gap between India and Bharat, an India filled with the nouveau rich, swanky offices and homes, MNC jobs and cars, and a Bharat filled with Naxals with AK 47’s, villagers opposing them with bows and arrows, famers commiting suicides, and villages which still havent seen electricity.

Yes, democracy exists, but JFK’s message seems to have been lost, a government by the people(who dont vote) of the people(who wont let anybody but their offspring contest) and for the people(hasnt happened yet). Why do “enlightened” cities like Mumbai and Bangalore turn in dismal voting records? While people in severaly troubled areas turn out in droves to vote? Do they have more faith in democracy than people in cities? Are urbanites more cynical? Everyone likes to believe his or her country city is different and somehow better. That his city is different simply because it has a different soul, a different ethos, dances to a tune of its own and makes its own music, and all of that somehow, intangibly makes it better. But a distinct apathy by people in these cities, noticeable in lack of protest towards poor governance, poor infrastructure and lack of willingness to participate in democracy(and not just by voting), by those who have the most power to do something about it, to make a difference, simply because they are privileged in so many ways, makes me believe no city is different, Mumbai from Bangalore to Delhi, and that each city suffers from the apathy of its own people. If these educated powerful urbanites do not want to make a difference, do the people who suffer under the yoke of terror, poverty and myriad other problems stand a better chance?

Yes, most government officials shun public debates, our institutions are badly screwed up, and our politicians may be corrupt, and it may very well be impossible for us to pariticipate in our own government, but I cannot help but agree with Sagarika Ghose when she said “One magnificent old man knew about inclusion. If he had been alive, he would have walked to Gadchiroli in his loincloth and sat on a fast for peace and justice for both Naxal and cop”.

Delhi 6 – A review and something more

Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s love affair with Delhi has given us two(possibly) beautiful love letters. The first was Rang De Basanti and the second is Delhi 6. I am sure not many people will agree with the beautiful part in the first sentence, but i thought it was. Delhi 6 is masterfully crafted, with a lot of metaphors and symbolism that points to quite a bit of intelligence behind the scenes. Unfortunately that intelligence seems to have been left behind in the showers in a few scenes in the movie.

Delhi 6 is an extremely intelligent movie, masterfully crafted and beautifully told. Not a second is wasted in the movie, with every moment dedicated towards the development of the characters, who simultaneously are understated and extremely real. The main characters develop exquisitely, within amazing song sequences. Rahman delivers his best soundtrack in recent times, which is still far from his best though.

However most people would not find Delhi 6 a good movie, mainly because of the directors inability to keep throwing his points in our face. All of the metaphors lose meaning and become ugly when presented on the commercial reality of a 70 mm screen. The opening sequence in red, the analogies with the Ramayan, the pigeon and various other symbols lose their delicacy, if only because of their presentation. But I cannot imagine how it could have been improved. But these sequences have been coated with both sugar and something bitter, that they go down easy and yet leave a bitter taste in your mouth.

Some of India’s cultural ethos has been expertly captured in the movie. The struggles of a young girl against an over protective father, and her ability yet to keep him happy by subjecting herself to humiliation, the contempt an Indian feels for an NRI and vice versa, the non seperation of politics and religion, the clash between atheism and religion and so on. The movie does an adequate job of capturing it on celluloid, and other good things about the Indian cultural practises besides, but as expected is by no means exhaustive, nor does it attempt to be. More on this subject in later posts, when I have the time.

But, sadly the movie begins to unravel towards the end. Both in terms of the plot and the production. The final stretch is unbearably graceles, which compared to the mastery of the first half, is very shocking. The delicate form and structure of the movie starts lapsing into cliches(cliches always work, they are more often than not bang on, but also boring). Metaphors become unbearubly literal, the direcotr contradicts his own points in several ways. Arguing against a deity earlier, but showing that India needs one to work(for me as an atheist, it was a bit too much). It is one thing to know that a symbol exists, another for it to take form and shape an,d confront you, in a downright ugly manner. The movie also lapses into simplistic moral science lessons, which I can confidently(and cynically) say no longer work in this(rather cynical) age.

But overall Delhi 6 is an intelligent movie, very well made and attempts to tackle several fairly relevant, undefined problems. The movie has a large cast, all of whom can act. Someone should consider not doing fake accents though. The movie is an interesting question, set against the backdrop of age old practises and lifestyles, where myth is both the entertainer and the guide, where modern and undefined changes step in often, and the ability to step into them just as easily. Its worth watching, but please dont complain if you disagree with this review later.

Apathy is dead, Long live Apathy

Rejoice. Everyone calls our generation apathetic, but we are finally proving them wrong. We are going to send pink chaddies to oppressors, and not give a damn about how ridiculous we look, so long as the people we are associated with look ridiculous too. We are going to go and drink ourselves silly, just to oppose someone who poked his nose into our business. We will be rebellious, even if we dont understand what we rebelling against. We are going to organize ourselves through blogs and social networks, we are going to be powerful, and we are going to march for freedom which we got 60 years ago, we are going to stand and fight for freedom to be loose, forward and get drunk. Worth fighting for. After all, those are the morals of our age.We won that fight. And we were glorious, and we celebrated that glory till the end of time, when minstrels came and sang songs about us, which will be remembered for all of time, the indian youth and the pink chaddi campaign.

But when we were marching, you see, we forgot about other things. We forgot to look carefully at people we elected, and so dacoits and terrorists got elected. We forgot to think about education and poverty and energy and social welfare and health, so all of those went to hell. We forgot to think about infrastructure and jobs. We forgot to honor our heroes, and gave awards to people who didnt deserve them. We forgot to guard our borders and got angry when they were pierced. We forgot to educate our young and take care or our old. We forgot there were other criminals inside our country and did nothing about them.

So now we dont have hospitals, there are beggars at every street corner, we dont generate enough power so we cant produce anything. The old dont have enough to eat, and the young dont have enough jobs. And so on and on and on.

We didnt think about all that. I admit it. We were too busy you know. Fightin for something. Moral oppression I think. Because someone told us not to do something. We cant think for ourselves, but that doesnt mean someone else can tell us what to do. I mean, we were justified in our cause, and I can use that as an excuse for allowing my country to go to hell in other ways. We may not have jobs or power or health or any of those things, but we can go drink in a pub without fear now. Thats always worth fighting for in my opinion.

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PS: This post is not to support either the Ram sene or Vanar Sene or the Woman Sene or some campaign or the other. I know fighting against moral oppression(I dont really know what that means) is worthwhile. But I am afraid all of those “fighting” will sink back into their usual drunken(or not drunken) stupor and apathy after this is over. I am pretty sure that will happen too. There are more serious issues at hand, let us please address them.

Samples of Indian Politics

1. Ex Cricket captain, accused and proven guilty of match fixing, thrown out of Indian and international cricket wants to join governing party. Wants to contest upcoming elections. He has been banned from cricket, but there is no ban on joining politics is there? Any guesses on whether he will win?

2. Big, burly, overweight actor convicted of possessing illegal firearms, accused of helping international terrorists, male chauvinist pig, will contest forthcoming elections. If he is unable to do so because he may be in jail, his wife will do so, who according to her own statement does nothing without her husbands permission.

3. Bandit Woman responsible for several massacres, murder of her husband, several kidnappings, running rampant over two states is elected MP, and shot on the steps of her own house. Glorified by public and media.

4. Communist party is democratically elected to power in two states. Farce?

5. Man accused and almost convicted of murder is released on a technicality, and becomes Chief Minister of a state.

6. Actress turned politician in South India is elected chief minister after being convicted to three years in prison for fraud and embezzlement of public funds.

7. Ex Mumbai Criminal turned politician runs crime empire from jail. Is now an elected MLA from a Mumbai constituency

8. MP is currently serving a life sentence for kidnapping with intent to murder, and is facing trial in more than thirty criminal cases including eight of murder, twenty of attempted murder, as well as kidnapping, extortion. Won latest Lok Sabha elections while still jail, not having appeared anywhere to even campaign.

9. Woman living in a big house next to Parliament claims to speak to ghosts.

I could go on. Indians will probably recognize the names in this list, and there are many I have left out. A lot of people will say that this list is not new, and may serve no purpose. Probably, but doesnt mean it shouldnt be said. Its horrifying if an elected representative commits a crime, but we have a proven record of electing people with known criminal activities, known convictions and crimes. We even ignore such activities by people currently representing us. A shortage of people to elect? A failure of attitude, institutions and judiciary? Or is it a simpler answer?

Lessons learnt

1. Stop the heads from rolling. Frankly, it doesnt work. I wont be any less hurt if Shivraj Patil or R R Patil quits. Neither will anyone else. All that matters is that the governments (and by extension us) appointed idiots in the first place. Asking them to quit is like putting the traffic signal in the intersection after the kid died in the accident. It will save the next kid, but it wont bring the kid back. We can all play the blame game after we have done what is needed.

2. Stop the lame inanities. And the stupid annoying comments. Like R R Patil’s. But even a stupid statement could be acceptable from someone who absolutely has to comment. Like our lame duck miserable excuse of a president, Mrs Pratibha Patil, who is somewhere in Vienna, and has decided to cut short her trip and come here on 3rd of 4th of December, a full week after the tragedy. Havent heard a peep out of her throughout this tragedy.

3. To the press, please for heavens sake stop massaging your massive egos. Stop forcing us to become voyeur’s of someone else’s grief. We want to share the grief in the passing away of our heroes, not intrude on their families. Stop beaming pictures of a mother touching her sons face, and stop playing a patriotic song when you are doing that. Doesnt mean much, when you play an ad SimplyMarry.com after that. Be precise. Dont scare us. If you dont know, say so. Dont guess, there are more qualified people than you to do that. Like you saying more than 60 people have infiltrated Mumbai. Stop using dates to identify a tragedy. It sounds ridiculous. There have been too many to remember in any case. Interview the right people. Someone like a common man from the street. Not Shobha De. I dont give a rats ass whether Amitabh slept with a gun under his pillow. If someone shoots him, then report it. Not until then. Recognize a tragedy and give it the dignity, grief and attention it deserves. Please dont senationalise it. I could go on and on about the press, but every artcile I have written has been in criticism of them, so I will not, in this article atleast.

4. Remove politcal influences from police and other civil service appointments. And dont use elite forces for providing security to some politician who is insignificant enough to not kill him.

5. Get the forces to talk to each other, so that one force doesnt ignore that the other is saying, as clearly happened in this case. Turf wars between agencies is dangerous and detrimental. Information flows are crucial.

6. Setup a federal agency to combat terror. This has been advocated endlessly by plenty of people, about time the govt listened. Also make sure this is insulated from political interference.

7. NSG units in atleast 4 cities, to enable them to reach corners with ease, and better supplies to them, primarily transport.

8. The 2004 tsunami proved that India has no disaster relief mechanism. No efforts have been undertaken to create any such. Create one immediately.

9. Ramp up infrastructure, in terms of equipment and more importantly people. Qualified people should be given an incentive to join civil services.

10. A definite policy on tackling terror. “Parties agree to fight terror, but fail to reach consensus”. I didnt realise one could disagree to fight terror. Decide on a national policy on how to combat terror, dont dither. Or we’ll end up releasing terrorists like we did after the Kandahar hijacking.

11. A policy on pursuing terrorists, who have committed crimes on Indian soil across geographical and political borders. We all know who the terrorists are, and where they are. We have done nothing to hunt them down, save for asking some country to hand them over. Maybe its time we did more.

Responsibility is not an option any longer. It never was. And its not a burden that gets over after we have cast a vote. Or after we take up power. Lives have been lost because we didnt take cognizance of the fact that we are facing serious problems. Now awareness of that fact has been forced upon the collective consciousness of our nation. No Indian can read about the tragic events that unfolded without feeling anger or grief, or both. Its time we did something, for our own sakes

Finally?

The attack on Mumbai has just ended. I am relieved, very much so. And proud. Of our country, the defense forces, and yes even the Prime Ministers handling of the situation. But then again, like my usual cynical and cold hearted self(or so it would seem), I could’nt help but wonder that this increasing frequency of terrorist attacks indicates a systemic failure in our intelligence and bureaucratic system. And again like my cynical self I started wondering why this happened.

I am not a legal expert, or one on intelligence systems or on defense. What follows is my personal opinion.

There is one way in which the government differs from any private enterprise. Security. A government job is for life. There isnt anything that can get you fired, short of being arrested, and then being convicted. You lose the job only when you retire, or die of course. In a private enterprise, competence is rewarded, and lack of it is punished in a manner of speaking. No such thing of course exists in the government. Because our constitution mandates it so.

If you look at these articles, then you will find that our constitution has not mentioned any way in which a bureaucrat can be punished if he does not perform. He can simply sit at his desk all day doing nothing and he will still get his salary, and his promotions as and when they are due.

Article 310 and 311 mandate that the only way to remove a civil servant from service is by instituting an inquiry into supposed misbehaviour. There is no mention of performance or competence, anywhere. Strangely, there are only exceptions mentions, situations where an inquiry cannot be done. No reason given as to when an inquiry should be started. Complacence of the bureaucracy can be explained by these two. Job security in governments also.

These articles were written in a different age, by a different country, and by a different class of people. They were written by the British, in the year 1935, and in an age when I believe honesty was the norm.

You may wonder why I am writing about such things now, in the wake of the most terrifying terror attacks in recent times. I am writing it because these attacks are no more than proxies. They are problems, true, but they also point to bigger problems.

One of course, is that we are ringed by either military regimes or communist countries(we also have CPM, which is a democratically elected communist party in India, will Indians never see the farce in that particular piece of bullshit??). We are ringed by hostile neighbours, something akin to Israel, our problem compounded by the fact that we have a much bigger border to protect.

Second is a completely non functional bureaucracy. Even if it does function it does so at a pace where it would appear to be dead, for all intents and purposes. This seems to be the more serious problem to me. When you want to give compensation money to terror victims, you need a functional bureaucracy. I wrote about the articles because they are at the root cause of the bureaucracy’s inefficiency and apathy. Changing those artciles will take a couple of years, implementing those changes a generation or two.

Perhaps I am dithering, veering slightly off the point. But our government needs to function, all of it. When a disaster strikes, we cannot sit around warming our hands,hoping that somebody higher up has enough sense to take some decisions, and take them fast. Case in point: NSG commandos brought to site of attack in public servce buses. Look at this article.

I am glad about something else. Barkha Dutt didnt move around harping about India’s resilient spirit. The media gave us its usual dose of hype and sensitivity, and foolishness, but it was bearable this time. I am very happy that talk of a federal agency dedicated to combat terror has surfaced. People have been asking for that for quite some time. I am also glad stronger words were used, by everyone. We are angry, and about time too. Maybe in the next attack, we really will blow our top, we really will lose our temper. God help terrorists then. India is not to be messed around with.

Enough is Enough

Disclaimer: The following post is not to condemn, debase or support any religion, organization or person thereof. I have the deepest respect for all religions, even if I do not follow any myself.

September 24, 2002: Akshardham attack: The attack on the Akshardham temple claimed 34 lives.

Aug 25, 2003: Gateway of India attack: Two blasts near the Gateway of India claimed 46 lives.

October 29, 2005: Sarojininagar blasts: 61 people were killed in three separate blasts at Sarojini market in New Delhi.

March 7, 2006: Varanasi blasts: 21 persons lost their lives following three blasts

July 11, 2006: Mumbai train blasts: 7 deadly blasts on local trains in which 209 people lost their lives.

September 8, 2006: Malegaon blasts: Two blasts killed 40.

February 19, 2007:  Samjhauta Express blasts: 66 persons killed in two blasts on Indo-Pak Samjhauta Express train.

May 18, 2007:  Mecca Masjid blasts: 9 persons were killed in a blast at the Mecca Masjid at Hyderabad. 5 persons were killed in police firing which ensued later.

August 25, 2007:  Hyderabad twin blasts: 42 persons lost their lives in twin blasts at Lumbini Park and Gokul chaat.

October 11, 2007: Ajmer blasts: Blast at Ajmer dargah kills two

May 13, 2008: Jaipur blasts: Serial blasts at Pink city claims 68 lives.

July 16 2008, Ahmedabad blasts: 57 dead in serial blasts in Ahmedabad.

July 25, 2008: Bangalore blasts: One person dies in Bengaluru serial blasts.

September 13, 2008, New Delhi blasts: Blasts at New Delhi claims 26 lives.

September 27, 2008, Delhi blasts: terror strikes Delhi again in which 3 people were killed.

September 29, 2008, Modasa blast: One killed in blast at Modasa in Gujarat.

September 29, 2008, Malegaon blasts: Five persons killed after bomb placed on a motor bike went off.

October 21, 2008, Imphal blasts: 17 killed in blast near Manipur police commando complex.

October 30, 2008, Assam blasts: Eleven blasts kill over 40 persons in Assam.

November 8 2008, Meerut blasts: Five dead.

Not once did Manmohan Singh or Sonia Gandhi pronounce the word Islamic Terrorism. Not even after evidence keeps piling up that militant organizations use perverse interpretations of the Quran to defend their actions.They remain true to India’s secular nature when they do not associate terrorists with any religion, but only with a class of society called criminals.

India is secular because Hinduism is. The simple, clean spirituality behind Hinduism allows the average Hindu to accept this diversity, and allows him to accept all people equally, irrespective of their Godly affiliations. This is possible because Hindus believe that God can manifest himself / herself / itself (anything I missed?) anywhere and at anytime, apart from the concept of Avatars, using any name or form.

Hindus have given refuge to half a dozen persecuted people. Syrian Christians, Parsis, Jews, Armenians, Tibetans. In all of its existence, India ruled by Hindus has never militarily invaded any country. Since Independence India has never broken a treaty it has signed. Hindus have never imposed their religion on any other. There are one billion Hindus, and they are one of the most peaceful, integrated law abiding society on this planet.

So where did the phrase “Hindu terror” come onto the lips of the press? It is immensely sad when the Indian and foreign press equate groups like SIMI, who kill hundreds of innocent civilians with ordinary Hindus, who broke churches and killed or injured no one.

The demolition of Babri masjid was disgusting. But it did not come anywhere near to the vengeful Bombay blasts. The press still insist on calling the demolition the more reprehensible. Hindus have been on the receiving end of terrorism since the first Muslim invasions in the 11th century. The Kashmir valley has been emptied of pundits, thanks to a genocide call by a neighbouring head of state. Goa witnessed a slaughter of Hindus when the portugese landed.

Blasts after blasts have killed hindus, who are the majority of this country. They are being made fun of, degraded, debased, their Gods blasphemed, their acts of public outrage being blown out of proportion by the press. Their most basic and important pilgrimage being denied every basic facility, but the Haj pilgrimage has an entire ministry for it. Their brothers and sisters are being converted to Christianity through financial traps. An old harmless sadhu and sadhvi are murdered.

Centuries of submitting to terrorism, blasphemy, and other atrocities, and people are surprised when Hindus erupt in anger. They are still the most tolerant of people, the most tolerant of religions. But their anger is called Terror.

Prisoner of choice

I read Lord Jeffery Archer’s latest book, Prisoner of Birth some time ago. I completely agreed with him, that we are all prisoners of birth, and that is a beautiful phrase, could not have put it better. I think that we are prisoners of choice more than we are prisoners of birth. Everyone of us faces a choice every now and then, and all of us are familiar with the concept of choice, and its dilemma.

Choice consists of the mental process of thinking involved with the process of judging the merits of multiple options and selecting one of them for action. Some simple examples include deciding whether to get up in the morning or go back to sleep, or selecting a given route for a journey. More complex examples (often decisions that affect what a person thinks or their core beliefs) include choosing a lifestyle, religious affiliation, or political position.

Most people regard having choices as a good thing, though a severely limited or artificially restricted choice can lead to discomfort with choosing and possibly, an unsatisfactory outcome. In contrast, unlimited choice may lead to confusion, regret of the alternatives not taken, and indifference in an unstructured existence; and the illusion that choosing an object or a course leads necessarily to control of that object or course.

There are several problems with the idea of choice too. One is a popular paradox, also a very good book of the same name: The Paradox of Choice – Why More Is Less, by Barry Schwartz. I dont want to expand on the subject.

Another major, major problem is the conflict with the idea of directionism. Basically choice means we have free will, able to do as we please, without the direction (control) of anybody else. If free is indeed a reality, then there is no external power or force acting to control, or directing our actions.

Now in comes God and the whole philosophy is suddenly standing on thin ice. If God does exist (I dont know and I dont care) and is indeed controlling every aspect of our lives, then choice itself is an illusion, and free will doesnt exist. The illusion of choice of course is created and maintained by God.

Take God himself (or herself). If God is omnipotent and knows everything that was, is and will be, then he knows the future. Logically extending that statement, he knows his (or her) future. By another logical extension, he doesnt have free will and no choices to make. Using the same argument, someone must have created his future and world. Keep going on and on making the same arguments, you wind up in an infinite chain.

“Autonomy and Freedom of choice are critical to our well being, and choice is critical to freedom and autonomy”. Should we replace choice with “the illusion of choice”?

of media and public(well, my) disgust, part 3

I have to continue this series of posts. This is also a continuation of my previous post, Bangalored. My city was rocked by a series of explosions today. Just yesterday I had written about my city changing and how I dont like it. Imagine how I would feel about 12 explosions in my city.

I got the news from one my professors, and I immediately rushed to my laptop and opened every news site I could think of. To my chagrin I could find a lot of inconsistent information on all of them. Reports of shops being shut, how Bangaloreans are rushing home, networks being jammed, traffic at a standstill flooded every news site.

The image of a city paralysed and crippled by fear is startling, not least because it is my city. I have seen it shut down, but I have never seen it afraid. And not surprisingly it wasnt. The media was being its usual exaggerative self, portraying images with a lot of dishonesty and hypocrisy. It would have been fair to say that people were scared for a brief time, and that a couple of shops shut down. To extend that image over 220 sq km is too big a leap.

I have grown used to such portrals from the media. One would have thought that a tragedy would make them be honest, atleast for a while. Respect for a city struck by tragedy would evince empathy in everyone, but not in the media apparently. I loathed every news article (not that there were many) that described a city cowering in fear of further attacks. That is not my city, and it never will be. The least one expects from a public service is honesty, to report fairly, not to take sides and not to pass judgement. The media has blatantly flouted all expectations and all ideals it had once set for itself. The worst part of the situation is that there is no one to discipline it, no one to control it and no one to criticize it. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

The media has degenerated over time, for a lot of reasons. The recent arrival of a host of new channels, too much competition, an ad blitz by product and service companies has resulted in a shift of focus from a service to business. Campaigns by media houses to involve the citizenry in reporting has resulted in disaster, crappy reports coming out and the quality of the channel going down. More info here.

Life in Bangalore returned to normal in just a couple of hours. The explosions were on a small scale, but that no less detracts from the fact that it was an attack on our city. My condolences to the casualties. But any city always recovers. In a conversation with my friends a couple of hours after the blasts, one of them remarked that we should hit the perpetrators with sandals. I could not help but think that he is a true Bangalorean, mild and placid and tolerant. Is this our reaction after an unprovoked attack on our city, our mere existence being an irk for some people. All I can do is echo Richard Dawkins and say “Lets all stop being so damned respectable”.

The Dark Knight

“You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain”. Evil just is. It has no cause, no justification and no end. It will always endure, morphing into something else everytime one form is destroyed. It needs only destruction to survive. The only way for the superhero to conquer it is to embrace it, to become evil himself. This is evil’s final victory, a testament to its endurance, a monument to its inevitability.

When a movie like The Dark Knight gets a rating of 96/10, with over 70,000 votes in two days of its release, it somehow renews my faith in the masses. For The Dark Knight is arguably the best superhero movie. EVER. It could well be among the best action movies of all time. TDK is intense, disturbing, rivetting, and a kafkaesque journey into good and evil, and the thin red line that seperates them.

It has a very intelligent story, remaining true to the original Batman story, and adding twists of its own that does not allow for any comment. The story magnificently explores the nature of good and evil, and nature of duality. Evil works in broad daylight, and good in the night. When good citizens want to kill criminals and criminals dont want to.

The direction is masterful, the pace of the movie perfect, never slacking off, relentless and intense. Every character is masterfully developed, and the director remains supremely in control of the movie throughout.

The Joker. Heath Ledger delivers a masterful, fearsome performance. Overshadowing the previous Jack Nicholson performance by length. The Joker is probably the most dangerous villain ever to appear on the silver screen. Ledger remains in control of the Joker throughout, not allowing a caricature of the character to develop, and allowing the Joker to grow beyond the comic and the cartoon, adding a psychotic twist to the character of the Joker. if not an award, his performance at the very least deserves a nomination for an oscar. The Joker is evil personified, entertaining, witty, menacing and dominates every scene that he appears in. The best scene of the Joker would probably be the hospital, him walking out, and in surprise pressing the detonator to blow up Gotham general.

The Dark Knight is a cinematic extravaganza, a lesson in style, pace and sheer entertainment.