"Ah yes! I was wondering what would break first! Your spirit or your body!"
–Bane, The Dark Knight Rises
That quote I just led off with involved the fight scene between the strong infamous villain Bane and Batman in the movie The Dark Knight Rises.
This particular fight scene happens in the earlier stage of the movie when Batman confronts Bane in hand to hand combat. The quote that I included here to start this episode was uttered by Bane just before he lifts Batman overhead and slams him down onto his knee to break his back.
In this scene it was clear that even Bane knew that Batman’s body would break long before his spirit ever would.
I personally thought this movie contained a lot of powerful messaging and aside from Batman’s loss to Bane in the beginning it would eventually serve to be a testament to the human spirit and the power of exercising courage and willpower in order to achieve a goal.
Unfortunately for Batman his misery was only just beginning at this stage of the film as Bane would have him transported out of Gotham and thrown into the bottom of a deep dark pit that also happened to be the prison where Bane himself claimed he discovered darkness and despair.
Once Bruce Wayne (Batman) found himself in the bottom of this pit with a broken back Bane came to torment him further by reminding him that he wasn’t going to kill his physical body, but rather to aim to gradually erode his spirit by giving him a means to view the destruction that he would inflict onto Wayne’s beloved city of Gotham by a TV monitor that he had installed inside of this prison.
He went on to tell Bruce that the purpose of him being in this same pit that had once imprisoned him was because it was the worst prison on earth. According to Bane this was due to the fact that you could look up directly out of the pit to see the opening to the free world, but that many men for many years had all fallen to the bottom and died trying to climb out of it only after clawing their way to the top.
He went on to communicate that the real torment of this prison is that it gave false hope because the prisoners could see the opening to freedom, yet it would only result in despair as nobody could climb out of it. Bane was letting Bruce know that the repetition and fatal failure involved in the attempted act to escape this prison pit served to be the most brutal form of punishment as the visible daylight of the pit’s opening would gradually transform one’s view of hope into the complete darkness of despair.
This was Bane’s plan for Batman, but Batman would have a different plan in mind to overcome his darkness.
War is the realm of uncertainty; three quarters of the factors on which action in war is based are wrapped in a fog of greater or lesser uncertainty. A sensitive and discriminating judgment is called for; a skilled intelligence to scent out the truth.
— Carl von Clausewitz
Here Bruce Wayne was facing his own fog of war with the uncertainty of the outcome of his own existence, as well as with the outcome of his beloved city of Gotham.
Not only did he find himself in the bottom of some remote miserable prison pit, but he was stuck down in the bottom of it with a broken back and no easy plan on how to get out.
However, as dire as the circumstances were for Wayne and despite what Bane had told him about the opening at the top of the pit in an attempt to demoralize him, Wayne could still look up to the opening of that pit and see the bright sunshine and daylight. In other words, there was a sign of hope even though it was covered up in hardship and adversity. In short, the hope was still there because it could visibly be seen.
You see, hope is one of the most powerful things, but it must first be preceded by courage and action and Wayne knew it was going to take some willpower, courage, and action in order to get himself out of that hole so that he could stop Bane once and for all.
The Providential Fog
I want to take a moment to shift gears to take you on a little journey back in time.
It was August 22, 1776 and General George Washington took a look around the battlefield amidst all the chaos realizing that his men had been soundly defeated and to make matters worse they were flanked out of their positions atop the Gowanus Heights (this would be part of today’s modern Brooklyn).
After having been soundly defeated by William Howe’s 20,000 man force the smoke of the battlefield loomed over the ground just above all the death and destruction from a very tough day. General Washington’s heart was racing as he realized he was outnumbered and outgunned as he found himself confronted by the powerful British army to his front and he basically had his back up against the wall with the East River directly to his rear.
With the constant threat and concern that the Royal Navy would enter the East River and block his avenue of escape Washington had to make a courageous call as he ordered all the available flatboats to be brought down to his position. The goal here was to move his army over to Manhattan on the night of August 29-30, 1776.
Once again, Washington understood that if he and his men were seen by the Royal Navy that they would either be completely destroyed or captured. However, as they started making their way out across the river an incredible thing occurred that would be nothing short of a miracle.
As the men started to cross the river they were aided by a providential fog that completely hid their escape from the Royal Navy. Because of this miracle fog Washington was successfully able to move all 9000 of his troops to Manhattan without losing a single man. This would end up being a truly remarkable military feat that completely astounded his British enemy.
However, even though they managed to escape a very dire situation as the New York campaign progressed Washington’s forces would end up suffering another couple of defeats at the Battle of White Plains on October 28, 1776 and again at Fort Washington on November 16, 1776 with that November defeat coincidentally being exactly 200 years to the day before my birthdate.
That disaster of Fort Washington would end up costing the Continental Army 59 killed American Patriots and another 2837 captured Patriots. As they were chased from New York Washington’s army was fractured and demoralized and ended up having to retreat all the way across New Jersey and into Pennsylvania.
To highlight the significance of these trying times during Washington’s struggles in New York it was during this time that as those dark days and 1776 came to a close that Thomas Paine’s words published in American Crisis rang powerfully true.
I’ve included a portion of his writing from that famous publication here.
THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. (Source, George Washington’s Mount Vernon)
Now obviously this period during the American Revolutionary War was a very grim period for our founding father General George Washington.
However, his courageous decision to cross that river was a turning point whether he had believed that at the time or not. I’m sure he did with the miraculous escape, but the following defeats would inject some adversity that I’m sure had truly even put him to the test. Nevertheless, having gone through the fire and having emerged on the other side is something I’m sure our founding father drew comfort from even in the darkest of hours.
His decision to cross that East River required an act of courage and despite the defeats that followed in the coming battles when the smoke cleared from the war victory was General Washington’s reward along with eventually becoming the first President of The United States in 1789.
So why did I bother to dive into this powerful moment during the American Revolution?
I chose to cover this powerful moment because in the middle of the heat of battle after having suffered a defeat combined with the fact that the short-term future was looking rather grim, Washington still had some hope when looking to the East River. There wasn’t a lot of daylight and there was certainly a fog of war, but that fog ended up working in the favor of Washington and his Patriots on that day thanks to God and his gift.
Victory Begets Victory
So you’re probably thinking Brandon, what about Batman? What happened to Bruce Wayne?
Well if you’ve seen the movie then you already know, but just in case you haven’t there’s a very important turning point in that movie with Bruce Wayne fighting against the prospect of losing all hope along with solidifying not only his own destruction, but the destruction of his beloved city of Gotham as well.
With the usual determination of a hardened billionaire that doubles as the world’s favorite vigilante Wayne immediately starts the long difficult journey of strengthening his body and rehabilitating his back from his injury from Bane.
As the movie clearly shows this is a difficult and cumbersome process, but a process that Wayne understands he must grind through as he has no other choice.
With a little help from an older and wiser inmate Wayne works day after day and gets his body stronger and stronger until his physical abilities are fully restored. At this point Wayne directs his attention to the top opening of the pit with the understanding that his next feat will involve him having to make an attempt at the climb and the dreaded jump to get out of the dangerous pit to conquer his fear in order to restore his freedom.
Wayne immediately gets some rope to tie around his waist and makes his way up the side of the wall to the dreaded small ledge that requires a jump over to another ledge that is above him. This jump is required in order to successfully climb out of the pit and is obviously the jump that has killed so many men that came before him.
Wayne goes to make the jump and falls short and he falls down the pit, but the rope serves as a safety net preventing him from crashing down to his death onto the floor of the pit below. Granted it’s still not a smooth fall as the rope doesn’t save him from taking a beating off the sides of the walls of the pit.
After his failed jump the older wiser inmate is telling him that the reason that he failed is because of his fear, but Bruce responds by stating that he’s not afraid, but rather that he’s angry. He then rushes out to begin his second attempt once again tying the rope around his waist and hurrying his climb towards that ledge, but this time he loses his hand grip and falls again resulting in him bouncing off the side of the wall of the pit and knocking himself unconscious as he’s left hanging from the rope.
Next, Wayne awakens from having been knocked unconscious in his cell and the older inmate tells him that not fearing death doesn’t make him stronger, but instead makes him weak.
Here Wayne asks the obvious question of Why?
The older inmate responds by asking How can you move faster than possible? Fight longer than possible, without the most powerful impulse of the spirit? The inmate then answers his own question stating, The fear of death.
Wayne tells the older inmate that he doesn’t fear death, but rather fears dying in that pit while his city of Gotham burns.
It is here that the older inmate responds by saying Well then make the climb. Wayne asks How? The inmate then tells him As the child did, without the rope. I won’t spoil this part, but the child that the older inmate is referring to is who we, as the audience, presume to be Bane.
At this point Wayne is seen packing a small bag of his supplies to roll up into a shoulder harness symbolizing that he’s about to make his final attempt at the climb along with the dreaded jump for his life from that ledge.
The Wrap Up
Wayne successfully makes the climb up to the final ledge to make the attempted jump to freedom that will either result in him plunging to his death, or giving him an easy climb out of that pit to the surface.
As Wayne stands up on that ledge high above the prisoners there’s a powerful moment of symbolism as he startles a colony of bats that suddenly burst into flight all around him just before he makes his attempt.
The men below are all chanting and cheering as he turns his attention towards the ledge above him. He gives himself a brief moment to take a breath and then he doesn’t hold anything back and leaps as hard as he can. The men pause in their chant for a brief moment of silence only to erupt in cheers a moment later as Wayne successfully grabs the ledge with both hands to successfully pull himself up so that he can climb the rest of the way out of that pit back to the surface.
You see this was a significant moment for Wayne just as Washington had a significant moment going into the East River. Even though one story here is fictional and the other is documented history the fact still remains that both of these stories carry a common theme involving hope and victory.
Washington’s escape, which was aided under the cover of the providential fog, was a major victory even though it may have not have seemed that way after the difficult day he and his men had just endured in New York.
Regardless of the setbacks that Washington had to endure during the New York campaign, looking back there is no doubt his enemy wanted him to succumb to despair in the fog of war, but instead he was aided by the fog of hope. Even though Washington knew that the East River would be a risky move due to the Royal Navy’s presence he also knew it was their only hope and that he had to go all in without holding back.
In much the same way we could say that about Washington we can see the same theme playing out with Bane’s plans for Bruce Wayne. Bane wanted Wayne to succumb to despair by putting him deep into the bottom of that prison pit with a broken back. Just like Washington, Wayne didn’t succumb to his own fog of war, but rather embraced his own fog of hope by realizing that he had to make that final jump from the ledge without the safety net of being tied to the rope. He knew that once he committed to it that he simply had to go all in without holding back just as Washington recognized the same thing in his defining moment in history.
As both of these stories play out Washington is victorious at defeating the British just as Batman is victorious at defeating Bane in the end.
Romans 5:3-4
Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.
You see I’m convinced now more than ever that our country, society, and world is having to endure suffering because it will produce the perseverance, character, and hope as the Bible says here while also simultaneously strengthening our relationship with God.
This ability to overcome our own individual fog of war in order for each of us to look for our own individual fog of hope is the key to victory.
Remember the words of Thomas Paine as Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered, but as the book of Romans points out we also glory in our sufferings.
This is how we each achieve victory and always remember that victory begets victory. Now is your time to engage in the fight for liberty because there’s no time like this time in history and we will not allow our enemies to remove our fog of hope as long as we act and persevere.
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Removing The Fog