Remember, remember, the fifth of November...
Last night I finally watched "V for Vendetta" by the Wachkowski brothers of Matrix fame. Why I didn't see this in the theatre is beyond me. There wasn't as much hype about it at the time perhaps.
Needless to say, this is one of the best movies I've seen. It is absolutely one of the most riveting, poignant, and politically relevant movies, post 9/11. I thought it would be politically more subtle, but it wasn't. It was direct and in-your-face.
But V used a page out of British history as regards one Guy Fawkes, who on November 5, 1605 tried to blow up the British Parliament but was caught and hanged for treason. Over 500 years later, around 2020 (slightly different than the book's 1990's), an anarchist vigilante named "V" used the facial image of Fawkes as a symbolic mask as he sought vindication for his time in prison and his fiery escape which caused full body burns. Britain was under a totalitarian regime (with similarities to Nazi Germany) due to the increased so-called terrorist and viral attacks on the country.
It reminded me of Star Wars episodes II and III and how the Chancellor/Darth Sidious secretly played both sides in creating a galactic conflict for his rise to ultimate power as Emperor to restore "order and peace". Same goes for Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin, Castro, Mao, Saddam Hussein, Pol Pot, Milosovich, Kim Jong, and perhaps Putin and Bush to less of an extent, but there are so many more.
One of the best lines was when V used every single word starting with V in one long sentence. His vernacular was very vilifying!
But without giving out too much plot, the few action scenes were excellent and didn't make it the focus of the movie, unlike Matrix to an extent. The focus was the continued political battle between anarchism vs. fascism. As someone who enjoys politics and ideology, one theory is if group think is at the far right, to destroy it, approach from the far left. This movie warns us that if we want to maintain our freedom and democracy, we must not give in to fear in the name of security and so-called peace, but if we do willingly and ungrudgingly succumb to it and listen to leaders who spout rhetoric that actually goes against freedom and libertarian ideals, we are doomed, and only revolution can turn the tide so to speak. And history is rife with such examples. WWII was a revolution against fascism and we won.
Anyway, Natalie Portman was awesome and believable and is there anything that Hugo Weaving can't do?
Ultimately, this movie made you really think. With Britain already having installed surveillance cameras everywhere, much tightened airport and border security, more and more laws, especially in the US, that border on violation of privacy and freedom, the timing of the movie was actually interesting. It was supposed to be released on none other than Nov. 5, but was delayed due to the underground bombings in Britain. How poignant indeed.
Hatrock gives "V for Vendetta" 4.5 fists out of 5.
