Remember, Remember...

the 5th of November or you know… March 17th, the day I saw V for Vendetta.

I must say I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. I am feeling frustrated by critics who feel they need to slam the movie because it seems like a bold shot at the current American political climate, but to me, the critics who do that are seriously overlooking some of the more interesting and thought provoking aspects of the film. The truth is I don’t really feel it accurately reflects the current situation in the War on Terror, and I am usually cynical about these kinds of things, but the US Government is not yet at the point where they could even be confused as totalitarian which is the form of government represented in this film. (My reasoning coming out of the thought that US government isn’t nearly organized enough to be totalitarian)

The title character V is brilliant because he is about as anonymous as anyone could ever be which is why we are able to relate with him. He is voiced and acted by Hugo Weaving who (Elrond be praised) manages to shed his “Mr. Anderson” accent for a softer more persuasive tone. You will not see his face in this movie, and yet you will, the face of V is all of us and this was something that truly blew me away in the film. You find out backstory on how this particular individual became the one who was inevitably going to stand up, but the man behind the Guy Fawkes mask is unimportant, he is merely an instrument of change, a force of nature.

Sure the fight sequences are well done and the action plays out well, but it is the story that captivated me, and to me the story has nothing to do with corrupt government, and everything to do with how we have a tendency these days to let the world and all of its garbage wash over us without really thinking about it. The government is in place because the people allowed it to happen, and said people are in captivity because they are to complacent to rise up. V wakes them up, he becomes the personification of their inner thoughts, he could be their neighbor, one of their friends, and all he does is ask them to think.

Natalie Portman is the other half of the puzzle, she is the means by which we see the awakening occur in the context of the film, and she really does pull it off, her arc culminating in a choice of her own, a choice to think and a choice to act (although not in a way I would recommend to those frustrated by their system). Too often these days we allow our sense to be dulled, and we fall prey to the easiest of scams. A friend of mine told me today that the Alberta government pulled support for long-term disability programs and increased subsidies for horse-racing by 40%. Who doesn’t read that and go, “That doesn’t seem right.” I asked my friend why he thought people didn’t get upset with this sort of thing. His reply, “Because the government gives us a cheque.” And he’s right (and I should point out that he is aware how brutal that is) Who doesn’t like to receive 400 unasked for dollars, and who really thinks it through enough to realize they are just giving you your own money back, money which you used to pay your taxes. But I digress.

V is not a movie about any current political situation. It is a movie about what happens when people fail to understand the consequences of complacency and boredom. You should see it. It will stimulate your mind and give you many hours of interesting discussions.