Okay I know that the majority of you who have seen this flik see it as a dreadul piece of trash wherein political propaganda has been spread. I on the other hand watched it this afternoon and enjoyed it and would watch it over again...that is after I blow up parliament (JUST KIDDING). Granted yes it did portray a sort of "glorified terrorism"...however if you compare it to Equilibrium (*ahem Miss V!) wherein the government has become corrupt and systems must be questioned and dictatorships taken down, there is a certain element of truth that should be recognized. What happens when the systems we've created become the unalterable opposing force, therein becoming the very thing we set out to eliminate from the world. I don't agree necessarily with the tactics of "V" in this film and I would never recommend it, but you can see how quickly and easily things that should have been meant for good can turn around so quickly to evil. The film itself was based rather loosely around November the 5th 1605, when a Catholic plot to overthrow the British parliament was foiled....otherwise known as "Guy Fawkes Night." Guy Fawkes is basically "V" in a loosely based Hollywood Wachowski brother's way. Once I realized that this whole plot of the script was actually based on an old story from 1605 I found it all the more interesting and now want to find out more about this Guy Fawkes. So far I have found this reference... "Penny for the Guy." This is a reference to a children's custom in England around November 5th ("Guy Fawkes day") when children make a Guy Fawkes mannequin to be burned on the bonfire in the evening and ask for money in the meantime with which to buy fireworks. What a happy thing to teach children. Anyway as far as the political message of the film its just interesting to think what would happen and how a government could fall into such a Totalitarian rule.
The main message I was able to pull from this film however... (this sounds like i'm writing a paper for class)... was the idea of inner strength and hope. I followed Natalie Portman's character quite closely as I suppose there was something in her character that felt vulnerable and relatable (not to mention I loved her hair...when she had it! give me your hair!!) Every time she would talk to someone connected to the "resistance" they were never afraid of the consequences. The one constant question she would ask was "what if they catch you". Her character goes through quite a metamorphosis from being this scared little girl who is lost and on her own to finding an irreversible strength inside herself. She is tortured, and inside her cell she finds a letter from another inmate who came before, this one little shred of hope gives her some amount of strength to continue on. "Ideas are bulletproof," as I suppose Hope is... we can't survive without Hope, it is the force that drives us to face another day, the compelling idea that tomorrow holds something better. The human spirit is an amazing work of art...it can be crushed, betrayed, both uplifted and drowned, and yet there is an internal switch that never quite gets turned off. It's the tear in the cloud that shows the silver lining. There will always be that small glimmer of Hope to cling to, because that is the makeup of the unconquerable human spirit.
3 comments:
So, is that the name of the movie? Obviously, I'm out of the main stream here...
Well, I could probably understand the glorified terrorism in this movie if I thought that it actually portrayed a totalitarian/dictatorial government. However, when I watched it, all that it seemed to say was that this was a government repressing certain sexual behaviors. And the noted political unrest and terrorism in 1600's England is entirely different from the present day/near future this movie presents. I see what you are saying, I just still hate it like poison. And I'm not arguing with you, I'm arguing with the Wachowskis. (You knew I was going to go off like this when you posted about this movie, though...)
The only parts of this movie I liked was the monologue by Hugo Weaving with all the "v" alliteration, and the fact that the letter "V" corresponded with the Roman numeral "V."
And Natalie's pre-shaved hair was very pretty.
The name of the movie is "V For Vendetta", the 5th of November is a tagline that V the main character uses. :)
Well the Wachowski's probably did try to tap into the whole 'gay rights' thing just because its now "cool" in Hollywood to have some glorified film commentary on it, but I didn't see that as the main unwinding thread of the government. The fact that they were going under this guise of "faith" and "unity" and were really the complete opposite was the corruption. I mean there was that whole cover-up too which was the main reason that V was even in existence. Billions of people died and were experimented on by their own government which promised them protection. That's how I could understand his Vendetta...I think he was insane but I can understand it. Also the mainstream media in the film was completely controlled by the government, they could twist any story and people would believe the wretched propaganda. They may not have been outrightly totalitarian in the way of Hitler's Germany but they were subtly so.
I didn't really appreciate the whole "Former America" thing though. That's the Wachowski's taking their whole "Hollywood Obligation" (along with Alec Baldwin and Susan Sarandon) and pumping their brains full of air. Like when V says the "artist takes a lie to show the truth"... that's like Alec Baldwin teaching a whole class at Southampton on the Artists Obligation to the Truth. In what world buddy?? Their own version of "truth". Anyway thats all.
Post a Comment