The Dark Knight has opened to rave reviews, many have argued solely because of Heath Ledger’s portrayal of The Joker. Whether or not you agree, however, one thing is clear to me - Heath Ledger gave the performance of his life in The Dark Knight.

Actually, I’ll have to rephrase that, and paraphrase Kevin Smith - he didn’t so much give a performance as he did disappear into the role of The Joker. He nailed him perfectly, making all those subtle contradictions Joker is known for come alive.

There are things Joker does that are not supposed to be funny, that on paper look sick, or disturbing, that Heath managed to make the audience laugh at - for instance, telling Batman “you complete me.” That sentence is probably the most important sentence in the film. The theater I was in was filled with a bunch of jackasses, and they laughed at it like it was a joke, but he was serious. Other examples stick out as well, such as his delivery of the line “No, I’m not crazy” when asked by a mobster. There’s no real way to describe what Ledger does, other than to say it’s simply the greatest performance I’ve ever seen. The way he carried himself, his history (which is “multiple choice”) little things like his voice, the psychology of the character, in particular the things he wants Batman to do (”I want it, I want it… Come on… hit me!”) all harken back to the comic character. (It helps the script was clearly top-notch, with influences by Loeb and Sale, Alan Moore, and, the one that really sticks out to me, Frank Miller.)

Ledger went to great lengths to get to that point. He locked himself in a hotel room for a month, in order to become the character. He kept a journal of The Joker’s thoughts, which boggles my mind. For the shooting of The Dark Knight, he was The Joker, and that probably had a hand in his death. for a long time, he couldn’t sleep, his mind was racing - he would take two Ambien, which would work for “about an hour,” and then wake up “mind racing.”

Heath Ledger has never been one to act conventionally - on break he’d spend most of his time with the crew of The Dark Knight, not the cast. It’s been rumored he didn’t really enjoy spending time with other actors, who, let’s face it can be elitists at times. He also took up the role of The Joker, which was, at the time, incredibly controversial. Heavy hitters were vying for that role, Adrien Brody, Robin Williams, even Steve Carell jokingly, and, oddly enough, The Joker becomes the super villain equivalent of what has been Ledger’s career. This anarchic interpretation of The Joker, this world without rules, is all more deserving of an Oscar than anything else so far this year, bar no film, no actor, no performance, and if he doesn’t get an Oscar for this role, it’s the Academy admitting they don’t take certain films seriously, devaluing the art form they’re supposed to represent.

This is the culmination of his life’s work. The only thing dissapointing about The Dark Knight is that the true star of the show never got to see his final masterpiece complete.

This post is dedicated to Heath Ledger.