Roopa Swaminathan’s Blog

The Bale Heartbreak

I never thought that as much of a fan as I was of Christian Bale, that I would write as much about him.That’s because he was never ever in the news as much as he has been this past week.

It won’t be an exagerration to say he has shattered the myth of the ‘private Bale” this week.

I’m sorry for going on and on about Bale and trust me when I say that I lead a perfectly normal life and actually HAVE a life just in case any of you wonder out there. There is also much more to me than some strange obssession with Bale. Thing was that Bale represented everything that was right in the world of cinema to me.

Brilliant actor.

Dedication to his craft unlike any other.

Infinitely polite to one and everyone.

So incredibly private that even his fans hate to out any secret of his including keeping his daughter’s name a secret for the longest time because they knew how private he himself was. He never sold out and still made it on his own. It took a slow and long time, he still made it. And we loved that about him.

And then one week just about smashes everything one had thought. Not just the news about him assaulting his mum and sister (although none of the news stories actually confirms what happened) but now also about the flare up at the Salvation sets when he apparently took off on the cinematographer.

What the f….?

I guess a lot of Baleheads feel heartbroken. These are a small group who are probably as committed to their work and their lives and careers as Bale is to his. I know I am. That’s why as creative artists, there was a kindred spirit in Bale. And In a way, his success meant we had a chance somewhere down the line.

But I don’t know anymore.

I don’t like Bale if he did indeed abuse that cinematographer. My respect will nosedive if it hasn’t already if news about his mum and sis are true. Thing is - no matter the provocation - Baleheads such as me thought Chtistian would always rise above and beyond. Maybe that was a highly unrealistic expectation. But he set it up for us. He seemed to have set such a high standard for himself, now if there are chinks in the armor, in a way he is to be blame.

I still feel very nebulous about the whole thing. None of it is explained by the fact that Bale insists on saying nothing about the incidents. I get that. It is personal and too private but not saying anything just adds to my nebulous feeling about him. I want to know that the artist I had supported through the down years was worth my support.

And I MOST certainly do NOT want to feel that maybe a Leonardo Di Caprio is better after all. At least he only lashes out against the paparrazzi!

At this moment, I just don’t know.

But apparently, Bale is currently the biggest star on the planet.

So I guess he really doesn’t need the old diehard Baleheads like me anymore.

Oh well…..

Back to Roopa Swaminathan's Website (www.sroopa.com)

This entry was posted on Friday, July 25th, 2008 at 7:25 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

You must be logged in to post a comment.

The Bale Heartbreak

Leave a Reply