FanUnity B(uzz)log

The 24-hour news media made “V For Vendetta” a topic of pundit debate before the film’s release. On the one show I saw, a collection of opinionated panelists talked over each other in discussion of the film. One said the movie glorifies terrorism. Another said it is just a silly film and doesn’t matter at all. I disagree.

“V For Vendetta” raises questions. It is a medition on the idea that one person’s terrorist is another person’s revolutionary. The sensitive will be jarred by some of the imagery, and by statements from V like the one where he says that blowing up a building can change the world.

To condemn V, one disregards the notion of whether the context of such actions matters. Is exploding parliment in a future fascist Britain the moral equivilant of crashing planes into the Twin Towers? Or is it closer in kin to the actions of the forefathers of the United States, when they threw off the shackles of tyranny to establish their Republic? I would argue the latter. The context of actions that might be perceived as terroristic not only matter — they mean everything. V’s line that “People should not be afraid of their government. Government should be afraid of its people” could have come out of the mouth of Thomas Paine. There’s nothing wrong at all with people rising up to overthrow a fascist regime. Should the future that “V For Vendetta” depicts ever come to pass, it can only be hoped that there would be those with the moral courage to set things right again.

As a cinematic experience, “V For Vendetta” is an engaging film. Its story is a revolutionary spin on “The Phantom Of The Opera.” The masked V (Hugo Weaving) saves his Christine — a British girl named Evey (Natalie Portman) from carnal assault by the gestapo. She is whisked away to his underground lair, where she lives in the protection of the masked monster and learns of his plans for revenge and revolution. After playing supporting roles in two classic sci-fi/fantasy series (”The Matrix” and “Lord Of The Rings”) Hugo Weaving finds himself at the center of this tale, adding V to his collection of memorable characters. Natalie Portman comports herself a couple hundred orders of magnitude better in “V” than she did in the “Star Wars” prequels. Aside from V, Stephen Rea’s performance as the truth seeking inspector stands out from the crowd. John Hurt’s channeling of Hitler clone High Chancellor Adam Sutler is very effective, if transparent, as is Roger Allam’s Lewis Prothero, Sutler’s Rush Limbaugh-like mouthpiece, perscription medicine addiction and all.

People have called “V For Vendetta” an attack on the Bush Administration, but I really don’t see it that way, even if some of the footage of protestors used in the film flash Bush’s name by on their placards. Even with the presence of the Limbaugh-ish figure I mentioned above, I think people who say it is an anti-Bush film are projecting a message onto it. The message of a movie like “V For Vendetta” is bigger than any one time period or leader. It’s a message about how the actions of a repressive regime can cause revolution among the repressed. To say it is about Bush is to say that Bush is that type of leader, and he’s not Sutler, nor is current day America the England of “V For Vendetta.”

“V For Vendetta” is a Rorschach test of a movie. People will take away a message from it that plays to their own political passions. Some will react with paranoia. Others with inspiration. For all of the things “V For Vendetta” is, it can’t be written off as a silly little movie.

5/5 Stars.