“Joker” is a brutally honest origin story about a real-world character, Author Fleck. He was a struggling comedian with a mental illness who turned the pain of his life into a movement through darkness.
“Joker” is one of the best movies I have seen in a while, a fictional story that actually says something. I have yet to see a DC or a Marvel movie other than “Black Panther” with an actual message that reaches the audience, and this movie did that for me.
Fleck, aka Joker, was played by Joaquin Phoenix, who did a phenomenal job with this role. I don’t believe any other Joker in history could have played this origin role better than he did.
This movie is controversial because people went into the theater thinking they’re about to see another action-packed DC movie and that wasn’t the case. Others felt like the movie used mental illness as an excuse for people to go off the handle and cause destruction with violence.
This movie showed a man being pushed by society to the point where he saw no other choice. Fleck feels like he doesn’t exist, and the world continues to prove it. You can see him struggling with his mental stability through the entire movie. The world made Fleck violent, people were violent toward him for being different every chance they got, and that started from childhood with his mother’s abusive boyfriend. The world pushed and he pushed back.
Throughout the movie he goes through multiple hardships. Finding out his mother had lied to him all his life, the woman he loves doesn’t even know he exists, being fired from a job, or the city no longer having somewhere for him to get the therapy or the medication he needed. Finally, the man he idolizes the most, made everyone look at him and his dream of being a comedian as a joke on live television; hence the name Joker.
There are so many twists, turns and revelations in “Joker” that pieces everything together, especially the scene when he first meets Bruce Wayne (Batman) and the correlation to his parents’ death and the Joker. The plot twist of the fake life he created for himself, and you get to understand why the Joker has a clown face from his job working as a clown. Joker’s uncontrollable laughter is caused by neurological damage and is triggered when he gets put in uncomfortable situations, which is why we see Joker laughing in every movie.
This ultimately is a great movie because the villain gets to share his story, and Joker has the chance to show the audience what started him on his path to evil. He wasn’t born that way. Even if you didn’t agree with his decisions, you were able to see the reasoning behind them.
This movie was a visual of how human beings treat others in our society, especially the poor, different, “little” people in this world.