V for Vendetta

V for Vendetta directed by James McTeigue

Review by Katie Rose    

                Remember, remember the fifth of November…….perhaps an unfamiliar phrase for those who live outside the UK, but for those who live in it represents a holiday. Other than simply calling it “November 5^th”, it is also known as Bomb Fire Day. This holiday exists to commemorate the time when a man named Guy Faux attempted to blow up the British Parliament.

                Guy Faux’s failed attempt is not only the background for Bomb fire Day, but also the opening sequence of one of my all time favorite movies, V for Vendetta, which has become intertwined with this holiday. V for Vendetta stars the magnificent Natalie Portman as Evey, a young woman living in a future that is particularly grim. Think Nazi Germany, but set maybe 50-60 years from now and in England. The government is controlled by a strict tyrant that has eradicated anything he deems wrong from society. All media is controlled directly by the government, there is a curfew for all citizens, and all forms of culture are strictly monitored. It is illegal to be gay. It is illegal to be Muslim. It is illegal to be different. Those who defy this law are brutally killed.

                Within this horrifying world Evey is an ordinary woman, living in total fear, and just trying to make a living. She dares to go out after curfew and is almost raped by police when she is saved by a mysterious man wearing a Guy Faux mask. He is charming, kind, and very good at killing people with knives. He introduces himself simply as “V” (played by Hugo Weaving). It is during this introduction that the entire plot of the film is revealed for those who can keep up with V’s dizzying monologue.  Evey, against her judgment, accompanies V to what she believes is a musical performance, only to realize the man who saved her life is actually a terrorist intent on tearing down the cruel society that created him. From that night forward her life is entangled with his, and she is eventually transformed by it.

 (sorry, I had to include this picture, it is always funny to me!)

                Evey’s journey in this movie is difficult, and at many times upsetting to watch. She loses everything after her encounter with V, and suffers even more as she remains acquainted with him. She loses her freedom, witnesses a friend getting killed in front of her, and is eventually captured and tortured. It is truly horrific. However, it is during all this that Evey loses something that makes her more dangerous to the government than she ever was before. She loses her fear. She realizes that there are some things more important than her own life, and she is no longer afraid of dying for them. The scene after she is released from her captors and V is helping her come to terms with what she has experienced. This is one of my favorite scenes in cinematic history. It is fittingly called “Evey Reborn”.

                “They put you in a cell and took everything they could take except your life, and you believed that was all there was, didn’t you? The only thing you had left was your life, but it wasn’t! You found something else. In that cell, you found something that mattered more to you than your life. Because when they threatened to kill you unless you gave them what they wanted, you told them you’d rather die.” - V

                This scene is potent, emotional, and ends with a spectacular image of Evey facing the sky after thinking she would never see it again. She holds her arms up to the sky as the rain falls over her face and weeps. It is one of the most powerful scenes in a movie I have ever seen. It shows how Evey has changed and is no longer a victim of the tyrannical government she lives under. She has now become exactly what the government fears most, a citizen who is no longer afraid of them. 

                Through the course of the film you learn about the history of what has led to the events that are occurring, you witness V tear the world apart, and at the end it is all brought together in a pivotal moment where everything V has worked for comes to place. However, instead of making the final decision to finish what he started, he leaves that decision with Evey. It is ultimately her choice whether or not to move forward and change the world. As V puts it, the future belongs to those who are going to be living in it, and Evey takes on that responsibility.

Final Recommendation? You should watch it every November 5^th like I do. Just kidding! But seriously…..I am going to watch it after I finish this and am forcing my housemate to watch it with me. Maybe political thrillers aren’t really your thing, but at least give this one a shot. I did not think I was going to like it the first time I watched it, and in the end it blew me away.