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grrgoylV for Vendetta: I knew nothing about this movie going into it. No reviews, no storyline, no actors, just the recommendation of a few friends. To say I was pleasantly surprised would be a vast understatement.
The story is fairly simple. A shadowy masked figure named only "V" enlists the aid of Evey (Natalie Portman) to bring about revolution against the Orwellian fascist police state Britain has become in the very-near future (2015, I believe). America is torn by civil war and no longer a superpower, and England is ruled by one party through fear and suspicion. V infiltrates a television broadcast and invites his oppressed countrymen to stand in front of Parliament in one year's time to witness its destruction, and presumably with it the destruction of the totalitarian regime.
As the title suggests, it is a tale of revenge. As V's story unfolds, we learn that he is the survivor of a Nazi-like facility that used minority prisoners and "enemies of the state" for medical experiments to create and unleash a virus on its own citizens, only to clean up at the stock market by releasing the antidote once the public was suitably panicked. At first V only seems interested in exacting punishment on the officials of the facility Eric Draven style (and we all know what a fan I am of movies with this theme), but eventually his grand scheme unfolds and we realize he plans to bring down the entire government, even if it means anarchy instead.
I don't even know where to begin with what I loved about this movie. Even though it was first conceived in the 80's under Margaret Thatcher's reign, I easily saw it as an allegory of the Bushregime administration. Obviously extended to a hyperbolic degree, but nevertheless. Terrorist activity used to keep the population living in fear; government-sanctioned torture; news stories "spun" to political advantage; villification of homosexuals and non-religious citizens in the media; surveillance conducted randomly on private homes; political leaders enjoying zero accountability -- all of this sounds terrifyingly familiar. This subject matter sadly becomes more and more timely every day.
The difficulty is that, in a post 9/11 world, V most certainly uses terrorist tactics to achieve his goals. As the comment made in the "Making of" featurette stated, one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. What makes someone become a terrorist? We see a glimpse of an answer to this question when Evey is detained and questioned as to V's identity or whereabouts. Her torture and systematic dehumanization are all implied, but we can see where such treatment of a previously law-abiding citizen might make them turn to extremism. Ultimately the Wachowski Bros (who wrote the screenplay) let us make our own decisions about what's black and white and what's gray, and indeed whether or not V's plan succeeds.
I don't know if I was overtired from working the previous night or what, but the dialogue, imagery and overall message kept me absolutely riveted. The script is dense, verbose, but if you pay attention it has an awful lot to say. V speaks eloquently, poetically, and I've written before about how the English language could use more exercise in this respect. But the ideas presented have such resonance, and relevance: "People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people." And my favorite, like a play within a play, "Artists use lies to tell the truth, while politicians use them to cover it up." If that isn't utterly self-referential, I don't know what is.
The writing was excellent. A lot of information is conveyed in a very short period of time, but like I said if you pay very careful attention to the dialogue it remains perfectly clear. There's a tightness about it and a cohesion from beginning to end that most movies fail at these days. Every symbol used by the hero is carefully selected for a reason, from the particular hybrid of rose he leaves on his victims to his very name. He is every inch the product of his torturers, as he says himself, making his line about going to "meet his maker" at the end that much more meaningful. And the whole parallel with The Count of Monte Cristo was well done and helped to further explain his actions and his methods. I've never seen the movie myself, but Evey's one line about how tragic that the Count's revenge is more important to him than the love of a woman makes the end of their own relationship so much more significant as well. The movie as a whole is just tied together so perfectly that if there are a few strings left dangling here and there, they are of so little consequence as to not even merit a mention.
The actors were all superb. If this movie accomplishes nothing else, it made me finally respect Natalie Portman as an actress (I've always found her just irritating in her previous roles). Stephen Rea and Stephen Fry are always excellent, and the irony of John Hurt playing the ruthless, fear-mongering High Chancellor who rules from a giant screen TV after playing the completely opposite role of Winston Smith in Orwell's 1984 22 years ago was downright delicious. But the best was V (I'll keep his identity a secret so you can be as surprised as I was. Of course, if you're reading this spoiler-riddled diatribe, then you already know), who managed to exhibit such emotion while never once removing his Guy Fawkes mask. Probably the biggest script he's ever been offered and you never get to see his face.
As the movie builds to its explosive climax, I kept having more and more chills and was even moved to tears. The final scene of hundreds of people in Guy Fawkes masks taking back their country to the tune of the 1812 Overture did it, to be sure, but even moreso the dominoes scene with Stephen Rea's grim prediction of the future played over it, and the extremely effective metaphor of the kind of chain reaction that can be started with a single man. Absolutely masterful movie-making.
Because in my darkest hours when thinking about the direction America seems to be heading, with the conservatives and the rich doing everything to stay in power (playing dirty politics on a grander, more effective scale, and more importantly getting away with it most of the time), I wonder if anything will stop this trend short of revolution. "Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich" Napoleon Bonaparte said, and this might very well be true. If things ever become as bad as V for Vendetta (or many a bleakly futuristic novel) theorizes, I personally would see V as a freedom fighter, and not a terrorist.
The minute the credits began to roll, I wanted to invite every single person I knew over to watch it with me. I rarely feel this excited about a movie. Tomorrow I'm buying the two disc special edition (naturally). 5 out of 5, unequivocally and unapologetically. If you disagree or worse, think like The New Yorker that it's "foolish," I don't want to hear about it. Am I being totalitarian? Get used to it, our freedoms are being eroded every day.
All my icons are far too silly to attach to such an intense post, so I'm going with me as a terribly intense 5-year-old.
The story is fairly simple. A shadowy masked figure named only "V" enlists the aid of Evey (Natalie Portman) to bring about revolution against the Orwellian fascist police state Britain has become in the very-near future (2015, I believe). America is torn by civil war and no longer a superpower, and England is ruled by one party through fear and suspicion. V infiltrates a television broadcast and invites his oppressed countrymen to stand in front of Parliament in one year's time to witness its destruction, and presumably with it the destruction of the totalitarian regime.
As the title suggests, it is a tale of revenge. As V's story unfolds, we learn that he is the survivor of a Nazi-like facility that used minority prisoners and "enemies of the state" for medical experiments to create and unleash a virus on its own citizens, only to clean up at the stock market by releasing the antidote once the public was suitably panicked. At first V only seems interested in exacting punishment on the officials of the facility Eric Draven style (and we all know what a fan I am of movies with this theme), but eventually his grand scheme unfolds and we realize he plans to bring down the entire government, even if it means anarchy instead.
I don't even know where to begin with what I loved about this movie. Even though it was first conceived in the 80's under Margaret Thatcher's reign, I easily saw it as an allegory of the Bush
The difficulty is that, in a post 9/11 world, V most certainly uses terrorist tactics to achieve his goals. As the comment made in the "Making of" featurette stated, one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. What makes someone become a terrorist? We see a glimpse of an answer to this question when Evey is detained and questioned as to V's identity or whereabouts. Her torture and systematic dehumanization are all implied, but we can see where such treatment of a previously law-abiding citizen might make them turn to extremism. Ultimately the Wachowski Bros (who wrote the screenplay) let us make our own decisions about what's black and white and what's gray, and indeed whether or not V's plan succeeds.
I don't know if I was overtired from working the previous night or what, but the dialogue, imagery and overall message kept me absolutely riveted. The script is dense, verbose, but if you pay attention it has an awful lot to say. V speaks eloquently, poetically, and I've written before about how the English language could use more exercise in this respect. But the ideas presented have such resonance, and relevance: "People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people." And my favorite, like a play within a play, "Artists use lies to tell the truth, while politicians use them to cover it up." If that isn't utterly self-referential, I don't know what is.
The writing was excellent. A lot of information is conveyed in a very short period of time, but like I said if you pay very careful attention to the dialogue it remains perfectly clear. There's a tightness about it and a cohesion from beginning to end that most movies fail at these days. Every symbol used by the hero is carefully selected for a reason, from the particular hybrid of rose he leaves on his victims to his very name. He is every inch the product of his torturers, as he says himself, making his line about going to "meet his maker" at the end that much more meaningful. And the whole parallel with The Count of Monte Cristo was well done and helped to further explain his actions and his methods. I've never seen the movie myself, but Evey's one line about how tragic that the Count's revenge is more important to him than the love of a woman makes the end of their own relationship so much more significant as well. The movie as a whole is just tied together so perfectly that if there are a few strings left dangling here and there, they are of so little consequence as to not even merit a mention.
The actors were all superb. If this movie accomplishes nothing else, it made me finally respect Natalie Portman as an actress (I've always found her just irritating in her previous roles). Stephen Rea and Stephen Fry are always excellent, and the irony of John Hurt playing the ruthless, fear-mongering High Chancellor who rules from a giant screen TV after playing the completely opposite role of Winston Smith in Orwell's 1984 22 years ago was downright delicious. But the best was V (I'll keep his identity a secret so you can be as surprised as I was. Of course, if you're reading this spoiler-riddled diatribe, then you already know), who managed to exhibit such emotion while never once removing his Guy Fawkes mask. Probably the biggest script he's ever been offered and you never get to see his face.
As the movie builds to its explosive climax, I kept having more and more chills and was even moved to tears. The final scene of hundreds of people in Guy Fawkes masks taking back their country to the tune of the 1812 Overture did it, to be sure, but even moreso the dominoes scene with Stephen Rea's grim prediction of the future played over it, and the extremely effective metaphor of the kind of chain reaction that can be started with a single man. Absolutely masterful movie-making.
Because in my darkest hours when thinking about the direction America seems to be heading, with the conservatives and the rich doing everything to stay in power (playing dirty politics on a grander, more effective scale, and more importantly getting away with it most of the time), I wonder if anything will stop this trend short of revolution. "Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich" Napoleon Bonaparte said, and this might very well be true. If things ever become as bad as V for Vendetta (or many a bleakly futuristic novel) theorizes, I personally would see V as a freedom fighter, and not a terrorist.
The minute the credits began to roll, I wanted to invite every single person I knew over to watch it with me. I rarely feel this excited about a movie. Tomorrow I'm buying the two disc special edition (naturally). 5 out of 5, unequivocally and unapologetically. If you disagree or worse, think like The New Yorker that it's "foolish," I don't want to hear about it. Am I being totalitarian? Get used to it, our freedoms are being eroded every day.
All my icons are far too silly to attach to such an intense post, so I'm going with me as a terribly intense 5-year-old.
