It's a brilliant film, but it really isn't open-ended to anyone who has read A Tale of Two Cities. In Dicken's book, the sacrificial death of scoundrel Sydney Carton "recalls to life" his aristocratic double Charles Darney. And then as Carton walks to the guillotine we share his vision of a post-revolutionary France that has moved past destructive class conflict and emerged "peaceful, useful, prosperous and happy." Ergo Carton's line that "it is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known."
Resolving the ambiguity of the ending is the entire point of this extended allusion. We have the sacrifice of a negative character (Batman) redeeming his positive aristocratic double (Wayne), and then general images of social redemption (even down to the visuals of children returning to the garden) as Gotham moves beyond the political/economic oppression that the film claims has thematically resulted from Batman's vigilante behavior and his refusal to trust in the norms of democratic society.
A great movie and widely misunderstood! And very suitable for the HN crowd given that it operates as an extended critique of the American war on terror. Some more thoughts for anyone curious:
Resolving the ambiguity of the ending is the entire point of this extended allusion. We have the sacrifice of a negative character (Batman) redeeming his positive aristocratic double (Wayne), and then general images of social redemption (even down to the visuals of children returning to the garden) as Gotham moves beyond the political/economic oppression that the film claims has thematically resulted from Batman's vigilante behavior and his refusal to trust in the norms of democratic society.
A great movie and widely misunderstood! And very suitable for the HN crowd given that it operates as an extended critique of the American war on terror. Some more thoughts for anyone curious:
http://popupchinese.com/the-dark-knight-rises.html