I was rewatching Batman: Dark Knight the other day. And this time, I felt especially grabbed by the scene where two ships are in the water. One has regular Gotham citizens and the other has criminals. The joker gives each detonators to blow the other ship up. And he gives them a choice: either one of you blows the other ship up, or I’ll blow both of you up.

The people on both ships debated it for a while, but in the end, no one could bring themselves to actually push the button. Even after a man said that the criminals had their chance to do right and that if anyone was going to die, it should be them, he couldn’t push it. This scene gives us a fascinating—and uplifting— window into human nature.

First, it surely shows a discomfort with taking lives. Even if the criminals didn’t deserve to live, and even if killing them were necessary to save themselves, Gotham’s citizens didn’t want blood on their hands. This is particularly striking when we consider the criminals. It’s certainly plausible that there were murderers among them. And yet, they couldn’t bring themselves to push the detonator either. Perhaps, the movie’s writers are telling us, most people understand that human life has inherent value, even when placed in situations where there’s an incentive to kill.

Second, it provides a message about how to fight terrorists. That’s basically what the joker is. He is hoping to use terror to win his fight against Batman and Gotham. In such situations, there is a temptation to do whatever we have to in order to survive. That seems to be what the man who initially suggests blowing up the criminal ship has in mind. Yes, killing may be bad, but it’s what has to be done so we can live. But this would have given the Joker what he wanted: showing that human life is worthless and that people are inherently wicked, willing to run roughshod over others if it’s to their advantage. The only way to truly defeat the Joker was to reject the ideas he stood for, and that posed a real risk.

Third, I can’t help seeing a lesson that there is hope even the worst criminal can be redeemed. In a poignant moment, a huge criminal with a frightening frown commands an official to give him the detonator. The official obliges, and then the criminal throws it overboard. We don’t know what this man’s crimes were. But we know he was better than whatever bad decisions he made. He showed more regard for human life than many people without criminal records might under similar circumstances.

Do we really believe that criminals are capable of such goodness? Do we believe they deserve dignity? Dark Knight answers both questions affirmatively. If we do, that belief should inform how we treat criminals. We should seek to create environments that encourage their best instincts.

This is an optimistic portrayal of human nature for sure. And it contrasts with Harvey Dent’s storyline. Harvey starts out as an idealistic crusader risking his life to go after Gotham’s criminals. But after he loses Rachel, his fury turns him into a murderer. So while a crisis brought out the best from people aboard the ships rigged with explosives, it brought out the worst in Harvey.

That is the question I’m left with at the end of the movie. When the chips are down and we’re on the verge of losing everything, will we be more like the criminal who threw out the detonator, or more like Harvey?