"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."
"Where is Dent?"
"You have all these rules, and you think they'll save you."
"He's in control."
"I have one rule."
"Oh, then that's the rule you'll have to break to know the truth."
"You want to play games?
How's that feel?"
"You wouldn't."
"I wouldn't!"
In spite of its comic book plot and characters, The Dark Knight addresses a serious human
rights issue that is making a resurgence in our era.
Woven into the struggle between good and evil, symbolized by the characters of Batman and
the Joker, is a chilling picture of the damage done to both people and society when those
ostensibly seeking to do good embrace the use of torture.
Torture is an assault of human dignity, and is banned under the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights.
Torture also corrupts the torturer.
Governments that employ torture, or allow agents of the state to employ it, undermine
both the credibility and viability of human rights within their society.
Gotham's DA and perceived savior from crime, Harvey Dent, psychologically tortures one
of Joker's men until Batman reveals the man suffers from mental issues, and thus has no
relevant information as he was easy prey for the Joker.
"You'd leave a man's life to chance?"
"Not exactly."
"His name's Schiff.
Thomas.
He's a paranoid schizophrenic, former patient at Arkham.
The kind of mind the Joker attracts.
What do you expect to learn from him?"
"The Joker killed Gordon.
He's gonna kill Rachel."
"You're the symbol of hope I can never be.
Your stand against organized crime is the first legitimate ray of light in Gotham
in decades.
If anyone saw this, everything would be undone.
All the criminals you pulled off the streets would be released, and Jim Gordon will have
died for nothing."
"If we're gonna play games, I'm gonna need a cup of coffee."
"Ah, the good cop-bad cop routine?"
"Not exactly."
"Never start with the head, the victim gets all fuzzy.
He can't feel the next--"
In his collaboration with the police, Batman goes too far when
the famous champion of justice tortures the Joker for information.
In a raw and chilling scene, Batman abuses his power.
His methods prove useless as the Joker revels in this chaos and destruction.
Similarly, torture has proven to give no actionable intelligence, according to US Senate reports
on torture.
In a comparison between humane and abusive interrogation, actionable intelligence came from
the former.
Furthermore, torture techniques impede the prosecution process and overall potential
for justice because only voluntary statements are admissible in court.
"Their code, it's a bad joke.
Dropped at the first sign of trouble.
They're only as good as the world allows them to be."
"Look at you go!"
"Does Harvey know about you and his little bunny?"
"Where are they?"
"Killing is making a choice."
"Where are they?"
"Choose between one life or the other.
Your friend the district attorney, or his blushing bride to be?
You have nothing, nothing to threaten me with.
Nothing to do with all your strength."
"You think I want to escape from this?
There is no escape from this."
"You don't want to hurt the boy, Harvey."
"It's not about what I want, it's about what's fair!
You thought we could be decent men, in an indecent time.
But you were wrong."
After his girlfriend's murder, Dent has become corrupted by the Joker.
Harvey Dent, the white knight of Gotham, loved by the people and expected to save the corrupt
city, now threatens Commissioner Gordon's family as he searches for justice.
"His son's got the same chance she had.
50-50."
"What happened to Rachel wasn't chance.
We decided to act.
We three."
"Then why was it me who is the only one who lost everything?"
"It wasn't."
"The Joker chose me!"
"Because you were the best of us.
He wanted to prove that even someone as good as you could fall."
"And he was right."
"The Joker won.
Harvey's prosecution, everything he fought for, undone.
Whatever chance you gave us of fixing our city dies with Harvey's reputation.
We bet it all on him.
The Joker took the best of us and tore him down.
People will lose hope."
"They won't.
They must never know what he did."
In this film's fictional world, Batman willingly takes the fall for Harvey Dent's atrocious
actions in order to preserve the hope that Gotham's people attribute to Dent's legitimate
character as opposed to Batman's work as a vigilante.
However, in the real world, there is no one to take the fall for our national reputation
when nations that claim to champion human rights embrace torture.
Even worse, there is no way to avoid the even deeper damage to human beings and society
when we depart from fundamental human right norms.
Torture leads to moral and legal corruption, which ultimately threatens the entire human
rights enterprise.
As exemplified by the persona of the Joker, the decision to use torture and to become
no different than the enemies of human rights, leads society down the path of moral madness.
"I killed those people.
That's what I can be."
"No, you can't.
You're not."
"I'm whatever Gotham needs me to be.
Call it in."
"A hero, not the hero we deserved, but the hero we needed.
Nothing less than a knight, shining."
