“V for Vendetta”Warner Bros. PicturesDirected by James McTeigueScreenplay by Andy and Larry Wachowski, based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore and David LloydStarring: Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, Stephen Rea, Stephen Fry, Tim Pigott-Smith and John HurtRated R/122 minutesOpened March 17, 2006Three-and-a-half out of four stars
Bill O’Reilly must be fuming right now. At this very instant, he and Rush Limbaugh and the rest of the conservative talk-show circuit are probably getting a collective aneurism after the release of “V for Vendetta,” a film with a terrorist (freedom fighter?) as its conquering hero, fighting back against a fascist government that controls and censors the people’s thoughts and actions.
If nothing else, this promises to be one of the most politically subversive films of the year.
Like so many books and films of the last century, “V for Vendetta” is a dystopian nightmare, set in a future that is just out of reach-some 20 years ahead, give or take. Britain has come under totalitarian rule, with its militant leader, Chancellor Sutler (John Hurt), controlling the people’s will with the help of his right-hand man, Creedy (Tim Pigott-Smith), and Lewis Prothero (Roger Allam), a propagandist for the British Television Network and the so-called “Voice of Britain.”
Prothero is an exaggerated O’Reilly type (though much more extreme) who ends his nightly broadcasts with the signoff, “England prevails!”
Out of the night comes the masked stranger, V (Hugo Weaving), who one night masterminds the destruction of England’s Central Criminal Court building known as Old Bailey-which explodes to the sounds of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture-and the next day takes over the national airwaves to rally his fellow citizens in an uprising against their totalitarian rulers.
V uses as his rallying cry the following lines:
Remember, remember the fifth of November / Gunpowder, treason and plot / ?I see no reason why the gunpowder treason / ?Should ever be forgot?
The abbreviated poem refers to the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in which Guy Fawkes and several collaborators planned to blow up both houses of Parliament and assassinate King James I. As V sees Fawkes as a noble freedom fighter, he, too, has designs on blowing up Parliament and plans on doing so on the following November 5. The plot has more complexities than that, but I’ll leave those for you to discover.
While V is clearly the most iconic figure of this story, the main character is Evey (Natalie Portman), a naive young woman who works for BTN but eventually is in cahoots with the mysterious V. On their first meeting, during which V saves her life and delivers an absolutely brilliant introductory monologue, she asks, “Are you, like, a crazy person?”
Maybe he is and maybe he isn’t. Either way, he’s out for vengeance against the government, and she slowly comes around to his side. Donning a Guy Fawkes mask-which not only keeps him anonymous but also conceals his mysterious disfiguration-and armed with an endless supply of knives, V takes the law into his own hands. Meanwhile, Detective Finch (Stephen Rea) is assigned to crack the case.
While it’s easy to get excited about a movie this daring (though some will inevitably say foolish or “dangerous”), it is not without its flaws, though they will be easier to forgive for those who already agree with its leftist slant.
It’s hard to call the film a “mixed bag,” per se, because the strengths far outweigh the weaknesses. But the weaknesses are there. For one, it would have helped if we had a better understanding of the government itself-why it exists, what its tactics and policies are, why we should rise against it.
Still, this is a cinematic triumph. The Wachowski Brothers wrote and produced the film, and though they don’t get directing credit, their creative vision is obvious. This is a heavily stylized world, clearly cut out of the graphic-novel mold and at once terrifying and beautiful. The film’s visual style is reminiscent at times of the Wachowskis’ excellent 1996 debut, “Bound.”
Regardless of how seriously some may take the messages in “V for Vendetta,” the film can be taken in many ways-as allegory, thriller, fantasy or action flick. Or maybe it’s all four. It succeeds, to one degree or another, in every way. Whichever way you see it, you can’t lose.
