Pepepains The following is an in depth analysis of the Dark Knight Rises opening scene: Notice CIA's body language: This confident pose establishes dominance and indicates that he is in charge here. "Dr. Pavel i'm CIA" Notice how he simply introduces himself as "CIA" rather than as a CIA Agent? This isn't a mistake: it's a sign of CIA's true loneliness in the world. It is very likely he has so little interaction with other human beings that he actually doesn't know of any other CIA agents. As far as he is concerned, he IS CIA. "Get them, I'm bored. I'll call it in." Why does CIA claim that he is bored? It is obvious that CIA is trying to appear un-intimidated. He wants to make it abundantly clear that he is in charge here. "He didn't fly so good!" He's obviously referring to the bullet he just fired. Why is it it a "he"? Does he assign an identity to all his bullets? "A lot of loyalty for a hired gun!" Was CIA deluded? Why was he talking to his pistol? Did he take it (hire it) from another agent? Bane: "No one cared who I was until I put on the mask." By this Bane means that he was a nobody until he took on the persona of Bane. The reputation that surrounds him is what has made him infamous. The "mask" is not the respiratory device that pumps him full of painkillers, the mask is his image as a dangerous individual known the world over for his exploits From this we can draw parallels with Bruce Wayne and Batman. The mask is an important theme throughout. CIA: If pull that off will you die? If I remove the mask, if I expose you as nothing more than a man, will it destroy the essence of what you are? Bane: "It would be extremely painful." It would be a traumatic experience to abandon what I am, an existential crisis of sorts that would be difficult to recover from. CIA: You're a big guy. You're an important person, your reputation is large and your deeds are noteworthy Bane: For you. I am an important person for you. You are an agent of the CIA who has been actively hunting me. Our importance to somebody, our stature, our largeness is defined by the effect we have on them. To the average person Bane is not a "big guy", but to this agent he is large indeed.
