If you strip away all illusions and look at life as it is, you’ll see — life was never meant to be easy. It’s a constant path of struggle and growth. Not a cliche like "learn something new every day," but an undeniable reality — on a global scale.

This idea is beautifully captured in Joker. The whole movie is visually stunning, but the staircase scene, that’s the true masterpiece.

We see Arthur Fleck, waking up in his stinking hole, getting ready, cleaning up, and with effort, dragging himself to his disgusting, utterly repugnant job — rising above the filth of his hopeless life.

Despite his miserable existence, Arthur holds on to his humanity. Every day, he carries his cross, like Jesus to Golgotha — and the scene captures this brilliantly. It might be incredibly hard, but just like us, Arthur keeps climbing up…

Down the staircase, only once in the film, the Joker descends.

And it is incredibly easy for him.