V for Vendetta: review and philosophy
"Remember, remember, the 5th of November
The Gunpowder Treason and plot;
I know of no reason why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot."
V for Vendetta is 2005 American political-thriller movie directed by James McTeigue and written by The Watchowskis, based on the series of same name by DC comics.
V for Vendetta gets inspiration from 1605 Gunpowder Plot. Guy Fawkes, who was a member of Catholic conspirators set out to blow up the British parliament, but their attempt failed.
I'll be trying to keep this review spoiler free but some minor spoilers are unavoidable so, Spoiler alert.
Plot and presentation:
The movie is set in a near future England where a virus called "St. Mary's virus" caused a pandemic and the whole city is in curfew. The movie introduces us to a character who likes to be called "V"(portrayed by Hugo Weaving) and the Government is shown as the fascist, homophobic, Islamophobic and highly conservative. V is shown as the anti-hero who wants to bring a change into the society and bring down the Government by blasting the British parliament on Guy Fawkes Night(5th of November).
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| "v" |
The movie is shown from the perspective of Evey Hammond(played by Natalie portman) who works in a British television network. On the 4th of November Evey went outside and he was confronted by 4 fingermen. However, "V" comes there and rescues her. From the very beginning they seemed to grow fond of each other.
On the next day "V" hijacks the news broadcast and tells everyone to gather next year on 5th November at the British Parliament. The police attempts to capture "V" but Evey helps him escape. Evey was injured by one of the police and she was carried to V's house.
After that Evey was captured again and this time she was imprisoned and tortured brutally.During imprisonment Evey learns about another prisoner named Valerie who was tortured for her lesbian sexual orientation. These facts affects her mind and thoughts and slowly she leans more towards V's ideology.
Another detective called "Finch" was the chief inspector of the "V" case. Soon he also learns some shocking truths about the Government and gets to know the true identity of "V". It also affects his mind which ultimately helps V's plan to succeed.
Performances:
Natalie Portman as Evey Hammond:
First I wanna talk about Natalie Portman's performance which was absolutely amazing! At the beginning her character was shown as a common 'towngirl' but as the story progresses her acting becomes more intense. The imprisonment scene and the 'standing in the rain' scene was acted with perfection. Overall, Natalie Portman's acting was perfect and definitely deserve applause.
Hugo Weaving as "V" :
Hugo Weaving played the role of the masked vigilante known as "V". Now, I can't really say if his acting was up to mark or not because throughout the movie we never get to see his face so his facial expressions remain unseen. But still I can say he did a good job with his voice acting and body language.
Others:
Among the others Stephen Rea as detective Finch and John Hurt as Adam Sutler are notable. Their performances does not leave a good impact because of not having enough screentime. But still they manage to portray their characters quite well.
Ideology of V for Vendetta:
V for Vendetta is a controversial movie. It was promoted and praised by liberals and left ideologists up on its release and it leaves some important questions. Does this movie promote violence? Does this movie encourage to cause riot and ultimately, does this movie justifies terrorism?
In my opinion these questions are for viewers interpretation. At some points of the movie we may feel sympathy for "V" who in Government's eyes is a terrorist. Although the movie is technically pretty good, it is often criticised for its political ideology.
Some critics see the movie as a counterpart of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy. The makers of The Dark Knight Trilogy gave the audience a clear message that terrorism can never do something good and it shouldn't be justified.V for Vendetta glorifies a person who wants to destroy the parliament which is an act of terrorism. So, as they both come from the same comic book universe(batman and V) a clash between their ideology will be phenomenal.
Flaws:
V for Vendetta technically is a great movie, but it doesn't mean it is completely flawless. some of them are-
- The whole focus is on one character(V). It gives other characters considerably less time to shine.
- Throughout the whole movie the Government is shown as satanic who has no sympathy and responsibilities for the citizens. Honestly why the elected this type of Government?
- Another plot hole I found is when the Government knows that the parliament might blow up, then why there was not enough patrolling in the underground?
Verdict:
In spite of these flaws V for Vendetta is still a good movie which is best seen with an open mind. I would rate the movie 8.5/10.
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