Nov. 16, 2011 - Issue #839: Ox
V for Vendetta
On the face of it, on one side of the domino, V For Vendetta, a movie adaptation that plays as a pop-culture update of Orwell's 1984, with elements of Dumas, Zorro and The Phantom of the Opera, clicks along quite smoothly. The Wachowski brothers' script pares Alan Moore and David Lloyd's 1980s comic series down to two storylines, often crosscut by director James McTeigue. There's twentysomething Evey's (Natalie Portman) entanglement with V (Hugo Weaving), a Guy Fawkes mask-wearing mastermind-rebel, and lead detective Eric Finch's (Stephen Rea) pursuit of V and discovery of the horrible government experiment that created the man they deem a "psychotic terrorist." And from the snappy red-and-black colour scheme, some noble political ideas emerge: the force of compassion for fellow victims of oppression; the passing of the torch to the next generation of rebels.Behind the mask, on the other side of the domino, as all the pieces fall into place, V's plan is so airtight, so fateful (even his death is basically noble suicide, carefully planned), and so slickly executed, that both V and the movie start to feel as fascist and oppressive as the Big-Brother-meets-religious-fundamentalist UK government (slogan: "Strength through unity, unity through faith") they oppose. V is the erudite master-man who lectures and teaches wide-eyed Evey, who does little. The final image, of the public looking up, en masse, at V's triumph, is collective idol-worship. This isn't anti-fascism (and certainly not anarchism, as in Moore's work) but American-style superhero reverence by the masses, with pseudo-political overtones—what eclipses all is "the man, and what he meant to me."
Still, though we're five years removed from the film's purposeful and accidental "war on terror" resonances (hooded and orange-suited prisoners; a bomb on a London Underground train) and the Holocaust allusions are unnecessary, the film's bombastic, slick presentation of political ideologies and rebellion remains rousing entertainment (if overlong, with a few overwrought moments). There's more than flash to the fireworks, though not much more—viewing it beyond its political veneer, V For Vendetta's verily a vivid video-game version of vox-populi vengeance against villains.
Tue, Nov 22 (9 pm)
Directed by James McTeigue
Metro Cinema at the Garneau
Originally released: 2006
Privacy Policy:
Vue respects your privacy. We will not forward your personal information to any other organization except as required by law, and will use your e-mail address only to respond to your comments. We reserve the right to edit and remove comments for length, clarity and/or if they are illegal or inappropriate. Your email address is never shown to visitors to vueweekly.com. Read the whole policy at: http://vueweekly.com/privacy
Comments policy
Comments go online directly without first being seen or reviewed by editors at Vue. Don't personally attack people, don't be defamatory, don't be spam-atory, don't hawk your band, don't pretend to be someone else, be clear, be on topic, be nice. Read our extended comments policy here. »
We use Disqus for our comments system. What's that all about?
We found that managing the comment community at Vue was easier to do with a system like Disqus. If this isn't straightforward to you, get help here.