V for Vendetta

“Remember, remember the Fifth of November — the gunpowder treason and plot,” are the first words we hear—accompanied by ominous score. These are the words spoken by Evey (Natalie Portman), a young woman enlisted by the terrorist V (Hugo Weaving). The verse originates from a famous English legend about Guy Fawkes, who on November 5, 1605, plotted to destroy Parliament only to be caught, tortured and executed along with his conspirators. An annual celebration, Guy Fawkes Night, is held on the anniversary of this date, commemorating the Gunpowder Treason with fireworks and burning of Fawkes’ in effigy.

Remember, Remember the fifth of November
The gunpowder treason and plot.

I see no reason why gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, ’twas his intent
to blow up king and parliament.

Three score barrels were laid below
to prove old England’s overthrow.

By God’s mercy he was catched
with a dark lantern and lighted match.

Holler boys, Holler boys let the bells ring
Holler boys, Holler boys, God save the King.

– Rhyme (abridged modern) recited annually on Guy Fawkes Night

This is the inspiration behind the mysterious “V”, a terrorist who masquerades wearing a Fawkes mask. Out in public past a government-enforced “Yellow Curfew” (which reminds me of our Department of Homeland Security’s much-ridiculed alert system), Evey is accosted by two Finger Men—agents in the service of of the neo-fascist regime led by Adam Sutler (John Hurt). V, on his way to a plot of his own working, encounters Evey and rescues her from the men about to rape her. When she asks about his identity, he replies, “What I am is a man in a mask,” noting the apparent absurdity of asking a masked man’s identity. Almost instantly, Evey is as attracted to his eloquence, wit and charm as much as she is put off by his questionable sanity. To say that V has a flair for the melodramatic is a gross understatement, but then he is well versed in all the works. I like to think of him as sort of a demented version of Jon Lovitz’ character in the Master Thespian skits on Saturday Night Live in the 1980’s.

It’s November the 5th, and V sends a message to the public with the symbolic destruction of the Old Bailey, London’s Central Criminal Court. Set to Tschaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” played throughout the city over loudspeakers (one marvels at the logistics), this is only a warning.

Evey works as an executive assistant for the state-run television network, BTN, under Dascomb (Ben Miles), who demonstrates his priorities when his only concern during a militant incursion by V is for the studio property (not the employees), and the more amiable television personality Deitrich (Stephen Fry) whom Evey finds to be an unlikely ally. Her parents, incidentally, were political activists—as noted by Detective Finch (Stephen Rea) in his investigation following V’s hijacking of BTN’s airwaves.

A series of masks are delivered to the facility which V uses on unwitting accomplices bound and gagged with the masks placed on them as a diversion used more than once in this film (not to mention many others). V uses the studio to tell the public of his plot and, most importantly, to inform them as to his motivations. In one of the few intriguing developments, the various cut-aways to the public reveal that, in the privacy of their own homes or the isolated community of like minds at their local pubs, they relate to V’s rails against the oppressive regime which, as V notes, they allowed in response to their own irrational fears.

We’re informed that a year from the date, V will stage a much larger-scale act of terrorism in response to a government he views has become tyrannical under Sutler, the High Chancellor. Soon thereafter, Evey decides to help V in what she comes to believe is a just cause. She’s witnessed enough examples of the media spin over various insurgencies and failures of government to work in the interests of the people. Echoing perhaps the underlying sentiments behind the Articles of the US Constitution and its Amendments, V observes, “People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.” But for all his verbal bombast, V serves as nothing more than a vessel of platitudes that does little, if anything, to clearly convey and garner appreciation for the many labors that produced the fruits of which famous and singular passages speak in abridged form.

Though the overarching story can be compared to Orwell’s 1984 or, in some regards, Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, I like to think of the central narrative, the sub-platonic love story between Evey and V, as a parallel to Clarisse and Montag in Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451—a film adaptation of which, by the way, has been stuck in development hell for more than ten years. I’m also reminded of Ayn Rand’s Anthem. In both cases a similar event is responsible for inspiring the rebel in Montag and Equality 7-2521—the persecution of a transgressor of society’s laws. In Evey’s case, her memory of her parents’ persecution and abduction by the state is the analogous incident which acts as the catalyst for her response to V’s cause.

Isn’t it always the case that archetypal mythologies of comic books (this movie is based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore and David Lloyd) contain forces of good and evil diametrically opposed at extremes to one another? This is one of the problems that undermines this story in more ways than one. Insidious plots don’t translate well when blared over a loudspeaker—defeating its own purpose.

And that’s largely what this film consists of. There are explosions, stylized bloodgushing knife acrobatics, and pyrotechnic displays that would turn the members of KISS green with envy. My question is not whether this film succeeds as a polemic encouraging terrorism as a means to an end. My question is whether or not this film succeeds at all in its apparent intent to arouse heightened emotions (as most films adapted from comics or graphic novels tend to attempt). They’re working within a style that depends on exaggeration, sure… I get that. However, aside from lacking the granularity that would make V a more intriguing and complex figure, he is by even his own admission little more than a reaction. That is precisely what makes him uninteresting as a character, but useful as a vehicle for lots of stunts and special effects for the Wachowskis to show off their penchant for overindulgence yet once more. This culminates in a gratuitous and routine knife-fu standoff between V and several adversaries, as well as a “blow shit up” sequence near the end of the film that’s an ironic counterpoint to Parliament’s recent passage of the “glorification” clause of the Terrorism Bill, whereby acts that glorify terrorism are deemed criminal offenses.

“V for Vendetta” has, however, one moment of brilliance which, true to the original text, involves a letter left behind in V’s detention cell at the Lark Hill facility where various experiments (the nature of which I’ll avoid discussing as it’s a major plot point) went on. The letter is from a woman named Valerie, who explains in heartbreaking detail her first love—another woman. And this is where our protagonist’s vengeance comes full circle, when Evey realizes through a similar catharsis (albeit a planned one, you’ll see what I mean) the intersection between the various subplots that all point toward the same government conspiracy, consequently underscoring who the real victims are.

When the legions of V supporters finally do crawl out of the wood work, the result is surprisingly underwhelming. Perhaps it’s because it plays as if it’s simply a reprise of the first act. We already know the outcome of the film by the time we see the masses assemble before Parliament, so why not fade out at this point and leave in our minds the image of throngs of citizens uniformly gathered, each wearing one of the hundreds of thousands of Fawkes masks shipped out to their doorsteps? The Wachowskis already proved with the Matrix sequels they don’t know how to quit on a powerful and deliberately open note.

V for Vendetta • Dolby® Digital surround sound in select theatres • Running Time: 132 minutes • MPAA Rating: R for strong violence and some language. • Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures