In United States politics , at the 1984 Democratic National Convention , the keynote speaker Gov. Mario Cuomo of New York delivered a scathing criticism of then-President Ronald Reagan 's comparison of the United States to a " shining city on a hill " with an allusion to Dickens ' novel , saying : " Mr. President , you ought to know that this nation is more a ' Tale of Two Cities ' than it is just a ' Shining City on a Hill ' . " '' A Tale of Two Cities '' served as inspiration to the 2012 Batman film '' The Dark Knight Rises '' by Christopher Nolan . The character of Bane is in part inspired by Dickens ' Madame Defarge : he organises kangaroo court trials against the ruling elite of the city of Gotham and is seen knitting in one of the trial scenes like Madame Defarge . There are other hints to Dickens ' novel , such as Talia al Ghul being obsessed with revenge and having a close relationship to the hero , Bane 's catchphrase " the fire rises " as an ode to one of the book 's chapters , among others . Bane 's associate Barsard is named after a supporting character in the novel . In the final scene of the film , Jim Gordon ( Gary Oldman ) reads aloud the closing lines of Carton 's inner monologue directly from the novel
1984 Democratic National Convention
1984 Democratic National Convention
A Tale of Two Cities