Quoted By:
Haha, my friend you are quite mistaken. Your impressions of the scene are that of the unintelligent and common man. I have analysed the opening scene of TDKR for over 10,000 hours, every nuance of the scene is well documented in my mind and I know, full well, the true meaning of this masterwork of cinema. I will outline it concisely and briefly for you now:
>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 I 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.
For you I am an important person, 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
