As is well known, a classic is not born a classic - it becomes one.
The process that turns a song into an iron sheep asset, a good book for some of the canon and a must-watch movie, can only be understood in retrospect.
The time elapses sharpens the temporal qualities of one work, and tends to forget a momentary buzz that another has gained.
The film "The Dark Knight" has such qualities.
It is strange to find that viewers who were in their diapers when he went to the screens worship him 14 years later.
The characters are complex, the action sweeping, but the film has reached its current status thanks to the thought-provoking dilemmas and social predictions presented in it.
In 2008, they still seemed imaginary to us.
The events of the last few days make it clear to us how much we missed.
Despite "The Dark Knight" being another incarnation of Batman's comic book plots, the filmmakers seem less interested in the savior's pyrotechnics in the mask, and more in the human environment in need of help, a society plagued by criminal abduction.
The helpless citizens who are members of it have no one to lean on except the superhero in the sky.
Representatives of the government are presented in it as incapable of establishing order in the modern metropolis to which they have been entrusted.
The police are not functioning, and in the face of the rampant violence, the municipal prosecutor's office - which was supposed to extract the volume from its catatonic situation - is also having a hard time reaching out.
Due to this, the bat man is debating whether to make use of an innovative technological means.
Software he has created allows him to keep track of what is happening on any mobile device in his vicinity.
All the actions of the citizens, overt and covert, are known before him, and the plots of the outlaws he now has the power to expose and thwart.
In a climactic scene, the protagonist stands in front of a huge screen that traces everything that is happening in his city.
Beside him stands his technical assistant, who also functions as the voice of his conscience (played by, of course, Morgan Freeman, who surprisingly does not play God in this film).
"What a beauty!" Batman states.
"What a beauty ?!", the assistant was horrified, "immoral, unethical and very dangerous. Every phone turned into a microphone!".
The fighter is determined to make use of every shard of information that comes to his ears, no matter which way, but the civilian representative refuses to infringe on their basic right to privacy even in the name of fighting injustice.
"I have to catch them," the lawman exclaims.
"The price is too high," states the ethicist, "it is an act of spying on millions of people. So much power must not be entrusted to the hands of a few people."
The film's viewers also stand in front of the screen.
They too send a voyeuristic look into personal spaces, invading them with a rude eye.
They too are required to ask: In the name of the fight against evil is it permissible to infringe on the basic rights of others?
And is not such an act considered a dark evil in itself?
The film does not provide a clear answer to its viewers.
He leaves them the question, anticipating the possibility that one day it will emerge into their world straight from the news pages and shock them deeply.
In these moments the dramatic discussion may help in understanding the situation.
Perhaps he will also make them appreciate the sound of wisdom that the humble assistant has made better: there are things that are not done.
Intoxication is a crime, and we have already learned from another superhero: great power must not reach those who have difficulty accepting responsibility.
Were we wrong?
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