Batman Begins

The movie names "Batman Begins" is based on the famous DC comics of Batman the superhero. Directed by Christopher Nolan, the movie establishes itself in a unique way. It was rated 9 out of 10 at the box office. It is a WB (Warner Bros) production and Batman's role is played by the famous actor Christopher Bale as Bruce Wayne in the movie.

The movie starts with an overall intense scene. There are bats in the sky. So many that one cannot count. Their noise is kind of scary and the staring of the movie gives us a hint that the movie would have a link with the animal (Bat). Bat is the icon used when talking about semiotics. One clearly gets the hint that the movie is on Batman as soon as the bats appear making a Bat shape in the sky. Basically Bruce was scared of bats. There was no background music. One could only hear loud noises made by the bats icon for a spam of a few seconds and scattered again.

The second scene was as intense as the first one. One couldn’t tell if the second scene has started as good editing has been done and the camera moved quickly along with the bushes and the leaves. The background music suddenly starts making the situation intense. The camera moves so fast that even the flowers of the plants seemed blur. It gave a good impression and the sound at the back enhanced the scene. Another good camera technique is used when from behind the bushes the camera suddenly moves a little up and a small girl appears (Rachel) running. She is carrying something and she enters the greenhouse. This girl Rachel is wearing a grey hood and pink trousers. Her hair nicely tied in two pony tails. While without a pause a small boy (Bruce) appears running after her. Both the kids had light brown hair. Bruce was wearing a grey shirt with a purple checked shirt on it. He also wore a wrist watch.

Rachel’s pink ponytails made her look very girly and Bruce’s wrist watch along with his front opened purple checked shirt represented his male gender. Good camera movements along Rachel and Bruce are shown. The camera was at the back of Bruce while he was running and then at his format when he enters the green house looking for Rachel. There is a half shot shown along with the camera movement as Bruce walks across the greenhouse. The greenhouse had green doors and a lot of plans and pots in it. There were many flowers of red, yellow, pink and white color. The greenhouse had wooden tables in it on which the pots were placed. Rachel was hiding under the table. This point showed that the girl’s gender was shown as a weak gender as she had to hide from the boy because he could snatch away what she had in her hand.

Moving on, as the camera was placed on the opposite direction now. One could see the other side of the greenhouse (towards its exit). The camera moves along Bruce as he bends down to his knees and talks to Rachel where she was hiding. A close up of Bruce is shown as he bends down. As soon as he bends down a shot is taken in with a full view of both the kids on the floor. Just as the dialogue between the two starts a shot reverse shot is captured with Rachel saying “finders keepers and I found it” which showed that she did not Bruce to take that rock away from her. Close up of Bruce’s face is shown as she opens them and the rock is there in her hands. The intense background music is still there all this time which creates tension amongst the audience about what next would happen. The camera is then again taking a half shot as Bruce snatches the stone from Rachel’s hands and runs. (An extreme close up was again shown while Bruce snatched the stone from Rachel’s hands). Bruce then runs. (An extreme close up of the scene is shown while Bruce snatches the rock from Rachel’s hands.) The camera moves along Bruce as he runs away from Rachel after saying “ finders keepers” just to tease her. Bruce runs and the camera is at the back and it shows where Bruce is running towards. He goes and hides behind some rocks. The camera then shows a half shot again, showing Rachel running after him. The camera moves a little right and then a little left which represented that she was trying to find Bruce. A close up of Bruce’s face is shown as he hides from Rachel behind the rocks. Bruce then at once falls down, discovering that there was a well beneath the rocks he was standing on. The camera is then at the bottom of the well. (Note that the well contained no water). Worms’ eye view has been captured as he falls down the well. A full view of Rachel has been shown as she turns which shows that she realizes the Bruce fell down. The same background music is being played. Rachel’s voice echoes’ as the camera shows that she was peeking in the well and calls Bruce’s name. An extreme wide shot of the big wide building is shown with Rachel running and calling for help, telling her mom that Bruce fell down the well. While Bruce is in the well, he stares at a dark passage which he discovers in the well. There is fear on his face and suddenly a school of bats appear, flying toward him. And soon they were all over him. 

Another scene starts with an extreme close up of Bruce, all grown up as a man now. He now had a mustache and a beard. A close up of his face with sunlight on his face (the right side) he wakes up and was sweating. This meant that the entire bat thing was a scary dream. Bruce is actually scared of the animal bat. Just when he wakes up the movie twists. He was in prison. A wide shot is shown in which slowly zooms in towards two people (Bruce and another prisoner) having a conversation inside jail. The prison did not have any light because it was supposed to be dark inside. Plus, outside the whole scene had day light and it was shot open air. A lot of prisoners are shown. A half shot is shown showing Bruce’s profile as he takes his breakfast. A fat huge prisoner throws away Bruce’s plate and they both start fighting just after a shot reverse shot had been shown.  The fight continues and is captured in continuous half shots and also shot reverse shots. There is no background music. There is bad camera movement shown as they fight. There is too much of camera movement along the people as they are fighting which was disturbing for me as I watched the scene. But, then again, maybe the director wanted it to be this way!

Again another half shot is shown as the force appears and they drag Bruce away. Humor is created when one of the gunmen shouts “protection” and Bruce says “ I don’t need protection”. The gunman replies “protection for them” (as in protection for the other prisoners from Bruce)!

Bruce is then thrown inside a prison again. There, a person appears and a lot of half shots and shot reverse shots are captured as the conversation takes place between the two people. Slow background music is played. It’s all dark inside the prison again. Only sunlight from the prison’s window is utilized to shoot the scene. Bruce is all dirty, full of dirt all over him, whereas, the man who appeared was soberly dressed up. He was wearing a grey suit, a brown tie and a blue dress shirt underneath. He tried to convince Bruce to work for him. He tells Bruce that he (Bruce) would be released the very next day. 

Bruce’s character is a very interesting character shown in the movie. For example, when he’s young he is always passionate about stuff and also stubborn as he snatches away the stone from Rachel’s hand in the very beginning. He fought with the prisoners showed that he couldn’t stand anyone annoying him. He did not have patience. He was brave as he was fighting so many other prisoners at a time and also said “I don’t need protection” to the gunman. This showed that he wasn’t afraid of anything. He wasn’t afraid of being killed as he said “only if they kill me before breakfast” in a sarcastic tone. Also, there was a girl shown in the begging of the story too which showed that yes, there will be a story related to her. This showed that Bruce will have a link with her too. 

  The audience that has been targeted is not limited. The movie can be recommended for children, teenagers and older people adults too. It is because it has its charm of having a superhero in it which would attract children to watch it. Teenagers and adults would watch it too because of the good language, camera movements, capturing of good scenes and good acting being done. It was overall a good movie. WORTH WATCHING!!