V for Vendetta Messages & Values 2 - Categorise

There's no mistaking the political statement in V for Vendetta, in which the hero is also a terrorist.

By Steve Persall
Published March 16, 2006

---

V for Vendetta is the boldest political statement against the Bush administration since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Even Michael Moore wouldn't prescribe bombing government facilities as a cure for dubious leadership. A futuristic setting in England doesn't disguise the film's rabid intent.

James McTeigue's movie will be branded as irresponsible, even dangerous, by some viewers, although if the past in any indication, the ones who don't see it will yowl loudest. All those knee-jerk critics need to know is that the film's hero is a terrorist.

V for Vendetta audaciously proposes that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter, and the difference between good and evil is mostly semantic.

The film is based on a graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated by David Lloyd; the book was released in 1989 to protest the political atmosphere of the Margaret Thatcher years.

The plot has been reworked to post-9/11 sensibilities by Andy and Larry Wachowski, who wrote their first draft before The Matrix made them famous. Alan Moore has distanced himself from the production; an adapted dud such as The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen can make an author skittish.

Or perhaps he guessed a firestorm lay ahead and didn't want to answer for other authors' ideas. The Wachowski brothers are notoriously reclusive, making this a cut-and-run protest of sorts. V for Vendetta will reignite those claims of disconnect between the film industry and the real world that George Clooney eloquently doused at the recent Academy Awards.

The movie begins with a flashback to 1605 when Guy Fawkes unsuccessfully conspired to blow up Parliament, and was captured and executed. "Remember, remember, the fifth of November,'' the poem begins. But people have forgotten by 2019 when a mysterious figure wearing a cape and eerie Fawkes mask plots an explosive reminder.

Hugo Weaving "Agent Smith'' in the Matrix trilogy wears the mask throughout the film, yet his elocution of the Wachowskis' rich, rebellious dialogue creates a fuller character than expected.

He calls himself V, explained with delirious alliteration to Evey (Natalie Portman), whom he rescues from a trio of lecherous government goons. V takes Evey to a rooftop to witness his masterpiece, blowing up the Old Bailey courthouse on Nov. 5, 2019, to protest a totalitarian regime. She becomes his accomplice, both pursued by grim inspector Finch (Stephen Rea). V vows to complete Fawkes' mission and blow up Parliament on Nov. 5, 2020.

The screenplay stacks the cards in V's favor, with vaguely familiar polemics about strength, unity and faith in God spouted by blustery Chancellor Sutler (John Hurt) and a TV commentator ranting like Bill O'Reilly. Color-coded curfews keep dissent down; the media is a spin-control tool; and a Ministry of Objectionable Materials hides books, works of art, even a jukebox from citizens. Possessing a copy of the Koran is reason for execution, lumping Muslims into the same undesirable group with homosexuals and anyone who disagrees.

"The security of this nation depends upon complete and total compliance,'' Sutler says, and we're urged to hiss.

Such words speak much louder than violent actions in V for Vendetta. This is a film about ideas, not entirely popular ones, that could topple a government faster than bombs if enough people took them to heart. The finale of McTeigue's movie, when V's vendetta spreads to the masses, is so revolutionary that I wondered how this movie ever got made, much less distributed by a major studio (in this case, Warner Bros.).

Does it endorse terrorism? Not as much as it decries politicians using fear to rule. More semantics. The future, the film loudly declares, is now.