The darkness of the movie theater near Denver that screened the latest installment of the Batman movies, The Dark Knight Rises, quickly turned into a death trap. Just like the protagonist in the movie, who faces dark-hearted cold-blooded villains time and time again, America is now dealing with the darkness that has suddenly struck at one of the nation's favorite venues, the movie theater. It is impossible to understand what went on in the mind of James Holmes, a 24-year-old, outstanding neuroscience student, when he planned for days the murder of innocent moviegoers. It is impossible to understand what motivated this young man, who did not have a political agenda, to enter a movie theater, stand in front of an audience and fire dozens of bullets. Even before he went on his rampage, this young man booby trapped his apartment with explosives and turned his stereo up very loud in an attempt to kill the police officers who would certainly investigate the noise. The root of such acts are in pure evil that dark place that exists in all of us, but that we manage to control most of the time. Obviously there is a link between Holmes' actions and the movie. According to reports, the shooter described himself as the Joker, Batman's arch enemy (played in the preceding movie by the late Heath Ledger, who, according to Hollywood legend, became addicted to pills as a result of the role, ultimately leading to his death). The Joker, with his painted-on smile, was an immoral, unsentimental, heartless character. The entire purpose of the character was to shake the steady ground beneath us and to undermine our sense of security. The implications of Holmes' actions could be far reaching. Holmes sparked chaos in the way that Americans now view the movie experience. In a matter of seconds he wiped out more than 100 years in which movie theaters were considered safe places where you could escape your mundane troubles for several hours, places where bad things and violence happened only on the screen. The overwhelming majority of American films have happy endings, in which the bad guy gets what he deserves and the audience leaves the theater smiling. The end was far from happy at last week's Batman screening. No one in Hollywood, from the most senior producers down to the most humble extras, ever imagined in their worst nightmares that movie theaters would serve as places for young people to gather and cry for the dead. Candlelight vigils and images of victims who sealed their fates by buying tickets are not usually associated with movie theaters. In the future, even these once-safe places American movie theaters could come under the scrutiny of heavy security, metal detectors and surveillance cameras. This "privilege" is currently enjoyed mainly by countries where terror is an almost everyday occurrence.
