My intentions were to watch V for Vendetta after I had read the graphic novel of the same name. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to locate a copy as of yet, and was strangely compelled on the weekend to see the film and review today.
Despite the barbaric ticket prices at the theatre, and the generally poor theatre experience, V for Vendetta is a undeniably captivating and provoking film, laced with intrigue and mystery.
The film imagines a future where England is ruled by a fascist government, one that is equal parts Nazi, Big Brother, and the Ministry of Information from Brazil in this fictional world, England is held in a vice like grip through fear and propaganda.
Through the course of the movie, we suspect that this urban hell was created from a chain of events that started from the US occupation of Iraq, lending credibility and relevance to V for Vendetta.
Most people can associate the grotesque mask from the film posters, a soulless white mask with a Muskateer goatee this is the visage of Guy Fawkes, an infamous English revolutionary who plotted to blow up the Parliament with gunpowder in 1605.
And so Fawkes memory is commemorated by V, a vigilante who hides behind the Guy Fakwes mask, and plans, hundreds of years after the original Gunpowder Plot, to blow up the Parliament buildings once again.
Who is V? Well, it’s hard to say, and the script dances around his past like bats flitting through bushy trees at night… perhaps he says it best himself:
‘I am an idea… and ideas are bulletproof’
V for Vendetta
Who is V? He’s a monster, of sorts, a monster created by the monstrosity of the government thus a fitting magistrate and executioner for the corruption and decadence of the totalitarian regime.
As a monster, V is remorseless in his dealings with the corruption of the government, but his inhumanity is humanized by Evey Hammond, played by Natalie Portman in one of her best roles, acted through to perfection.
After watching her float listlessly through the CGI jungles of the Star Wars prequels, it’s a pleasure to see what she does act with real people, with a script of substance and timing.
There’s nothing special about Evey, making her a fitting model for you or me, people caught in the tide of government and politics.
This isn’t just about revolutionaries and insane governments, though even behind V’s cold mask, we can feel his personality break through. Director James McTeigue uses lighting and angles to give the Fawkes mask countless layers of emotion. Yes, you can see V’s surprise, anger and most of all, his dignity and pride. It’s as touching as a movie gets, and a brief kiss between Evey and V somehow managed to be the most romantic on-screen kiss seen in quite a while.
V for Vendetta is a superb masterpiece of a film, albeit one that needs to be watched more than once. While it exists in a fictional world of extremes and ridiculous supression, the facism protrayed in the film is not entirely off the mark.
I had a dream, after watching the movie, that I caught a Guy Fawkesian character laying explosives at the University of Sydney. While it did massive damage to the buildings, I was curiously unhurt, and when I woke up, I felt strangely liberated from chains I was unaware existed.
I say: See it, and embed it into your memory as one of the great films of this decade.
See it for: The engrossing plot which never gets cliche or dull. This is a slow-moving movie that beats quickly…
Australian content: You didn’t think that I’d pass this up, did you? The character known as V is played by the incredible Hugo Weaving, also known as Agent Smith, also known as Elrond. Even behind that mask, Weaving managed to steal the stage.
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