Subscribe to Posts
Subscribe to CommentsIndividual Entry: V for Vendetta
« Yes, it has been a long time |
Main
| 18 years »
If you read this blog, PLEASE sign in to my guest book on frappr.
No personally identifying information is needed, so this is risk-free. Just provide a name (even a nickname), your zip code, and any statement you want to make ("hi" is sufficient).If you want to know more about me, click here.
March 17, 2006
Movies : V for Vendetta
Very interesting flick.
I'll start by saying that as a pure action movie, V' is wonderful ride. Well choreographed fight scenes which are well filmed, separated by just the right amount of drama and symbolism to keep it interesting.
But that's not what makes it interesting.
The real question I guess is – where do you place the character V in the moral spectrum.
Let start with the observation that the government depicted in the film is a totalitarian state which maintains control of its people by fear and force. This is a government which does not disserve to govern, and by the end of the film it becomes clear just how true that is. So by American standards of conduct, someone fighting to overthrow such a government is a "good guy" (historical pun there, since the term "guy" actually comes from Guy Fawkes, whose attempt to blow up the British parliament in 1605 plays a central role in the movie V'). We would generally classify someone like that as a "freedom fighter".
And if that was all there was to the movie V', then it would be pretty uninteresting.
The problem is, the character V is definitely not a good guy. When all is said and done, he is an evil man, driven by his desire for vengeance. Well spoken, kindly in his own way; but evil. If you doubt that, objectively consider for a moment what he does to Evey in the course of the film. He is (pun again intended) a Bad Guy. His ultimate goal (the overthrow of the government) may be good; but he most definitely is not. I think even the character knows that, which is why the film ends the way it does. So, perhaps, when all is said and done, V really is just a terrorist, and not a freedom fighter.
Personally, I tend to stay with the Freedom Fighter version. My reasoning is simple – we never see him attack any innocent people. His attacks are always carefully directed at guilty parties and empty buildings. His goal is not to instill terror in the population at large; but only in the hearts of government officials. If anything, the government is run by terrorists who use fear to manipulate the population.
Still, the movie managed to paint a complex, and often ambiguous picture and I enjoyed it.
A special note should be made of Hugo Weaving's (a.k.a. "Elrond" and "Agent Smith") performance as V. Not once in the film do we see an inch of his face (it is always hidden behind a Guy Fawkes mask); but with his voice and body alone he managed to create a compelling and interest character. Quite a challenge for an actor, and he disserves credit for his accomplishment.
Posted by Steven at March 17, 2006 04:31 PM
